Incorporating Math in the Kitchen with a Preschooler
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If you’ve been around here for a while you likely know my passion for involving children in everyday life, particularly cooking in the kitchen. So naturally I am always thinking of all the ways to incorporate learning there. A big one is math. For reference, my son is 3-years-old.
When I was a preschooler my mom always incorporated math into everyday life. I learned it in the kitchen, at the grocery store, everywhere. I feel like this was a huge privilege both because it improved my math skills (I loved math and had zero math “fear”) and because it makes it easier now for me to think of how to incorporate it with my children. While some children are naturally drawn to math problems, many children need to see it being relevant. Who hasn’t sat in a math class while someone asked “When will we ever use this?” I remember hearing that from 2nd or 3rd grade at least from other students.
I know math can feel intimidating to many parents but it is actually so easy to incorporate! Here are some simple and fun ways we incorporate math in the kitchen!
Written numbers: I highly recommend printing recipes. This is super beneficial for developing pre-reading skills (I think my visual recipes helped with that a ton and I’m hoping to develop some level 2 ones that incorporate numbers) but also once you move to full recipes they include numbers! My son is not as motivated by numbers as he is by letters/words but I have noticed in the kitchen when looking at a recipe he is far more motivated to recognize them. He’s even learning written fractions this way. Most numbers used in the kitchen will be fairly low numbers, perfect for preschoolers, but they also will get some exposure to tens (generally in minutes) and hundreds (generally in temperature) from recipes.
Counting: We count everything! We count muffin liners as they go in, count how many muffin tins we have filled and how many are still left, count pieces of garlic, etc etc. This counting builds one-to-one correspondence while counting so children understand that one object means one number (versus rote counting 1, 2, 3, 4, etc without associating the numbers with objects). It is through hands-on counting that children really develop this number sense. This is especially well illustrated with things like counting as you put muffin liners in. At first, I did the counting, counting as we did everything, and now my son does. Filling muffin tins also builds the idea of one-to-one correspondence of one-liner to one hole before counting skills are there. That’s what my 1 year old is working on!
One thing I hadn’t realized but learned from Preschool Math at Home is that counting out is more challenging than counting an already existing number of objects. This is the difference between me taking 6 pieces of garlic and having him count them and me giving him the whole bulb of garlic and having him get 6 cloves off. Since he uses recipes often he knows how many to get just from that. He has become very good at counting out the numbers we need. It is worth seeing if your child is able to count out a number as well as they can count an existing number or if that poses more of a challenge for them. Another way to work on this is by setting the table. You can ask your preschooler how many people we are setting places for. Then once that number is identified you can ask how many plates they need. Some children may struggle with recognizing the need for one plate for one person, so this is a good thing to practice!
I’ve also found it very easy to introduce the concept of zero through counting in the kitchen. Zero is more abstract but can be seen when we have zero spaces left or zero bananas left.
Addition/subtraction: I am constantly using this language and challenging him to think in terms of adding and subtracting. “We had 5 cloves of garlic. 1 is in the bowl. How many do we have now?” “4” “Yes! 5 minus 1 is 4.” “We needed 3 eggs. We have put 1 in. How many more do we need to add?” There is the visual here of the leftovers so he is able to count (or subitize) if needed and then I say it in the form of a math equation (and he does too now!). “We had 3 dates in the bowl. You added one more! How many now? 3 plus 1 is 4.” “How many would there be if we added one more?” I also do this with things like cups of flour (“The recipe said we needed 3 cups. We put 1 in. How many more do we need?”). This is far more challenging since they can’t just count how many are left on the tray or how many are in. I recommend starting by engaging them with the addition and subtraction they can do visually and meanwhile narrating the addition and subtraction for things like flour. Later on once they’ve grasped the more concrete visuals, try engaging them here as well.
Concrete fractions: I don’t suggest particular items often but visual fraction measuring cups are incredible. They allow your child to visually see fractions (and the set we have even has some odd fractions such as 2/3 and 3/4). Fractions are a far more advanced concept than most preschools are covering but this lays a foundation for understanding them. Even if your child doesn’t understand them now, this is a great way to lay the foundation.
Math terms: In general, I use lots of math terms in the kitchen: comparing quantities, addition, fraction terms, etc. We discuss shapes, weights (heavier, lighter), volume, etc. Time is also a very relevant part of math in the kitchen. We have not used our visual timer for cooking but it is something I have thought about using!
Understanding quantity doesn’t change as arrangement changes: We have this book Preschool Math at Home and it inspired me to explicitly work on this. I do think regardless it is implicitly being taught but I will do things like take 6 cloves of garlic that are going in, have him count them, then rearrange them and ask how many now. I will do that a few times. These little micro lessons are fun while cooking and take a matter of minutes to reinforce a useful concept.
Subitizing: You know how you can automatically recognize that 3 eggs are 3 eggs instead of counting each egg? This is called subitizing! This happens in the kitchen as we work over and over again with small quantities of things. I can hold 3 eggs and ask him how many there are, for example. Over time children will stop counting each one for those small quantities and instead instantly recognize them. Adults can generally subitize to about 5 so working on subitizing to numbers below 5 is a great starting point. After that, we can introduce the concept of 5 plus some to subitize in groups of 5 then add more.
These are some of my favorite ways to incorporate math into the kitchen, but there are so many other ways as well. We recently doubled a recipe and I was shocked at how well my 3-year-old took to that and how, after we helped with a few of the ingredients, he was able to figure out what some were doubled on his own! This is early multiplication.
A lot of these same things can be done in whatever other type of play you love to do with your child. We’ve learned a lot of math with magnetic tiles for example: my son has learned tons of geometry there (different types of triangles, more advanced shapes, etc). We also count there and do other everyday math. I find the kitchen though to be one of the best places for us to work on some math.
