Did you know that allowing your kids to help you in the kitchen is a great way of learning basic math concepts? Not only is helping mom or dad fun, but they are learning important skills. Learning math in the kitchen can be educational, fun, and tasty. Check out the number of ways that you can reinforce math skills without your children even realizing it. 

Have Your Smaller Children Set the Table by Counting 

It’s almost dinner time and mom usually has her hands full trying to wrap up the finishing touches with the meal. That doesn’t mean the kiddos can’t help while strengthening a few basic math principles in the process. The first couple of times you’ll want to show them how to lay everything out correctly. 

Have your smaller children set the table with the appropriate amount of dinner plates, cups, forks and spoons for everyone in your family. You can also have them set out cups that come in different shapes and sizes and then have them take a measuring cup to pour each drink. Show them that even though some of the glasses look more full, it’s still the same amount of liquid.

Use the Microwave for Counting Backwards 

When you need to microwave something, have your children stand close by and count down backward with the microwave to better establish their counting down skills. 

Fractions, Counting, Temperatures and Telling Time while Cooking and Baking 

Kids love helping in the kitchen, at least until they get older. Especially if you are baking a delicious batch of chocolate chip cookies or cooking their favorite blue box of Kraft macaroni and cheese. Not only are you teaching them basic life skills that they’ll need later on, but it’s also helping them understand fractions, division, measuring and counting. 

Get your children involved with helping with the correct measurements of ingredients, down to counting out the correct amount of eggs that you need are all great ways to teach math in the kitchen. Now’s as good a time as any to teach them about setting the correct temperature in Fahrenheit for the oven and teaching them about Celcius. All while opening up the fridge for the eggs while using a thermometer.  

Plus, you can help them improve their telling time skills by showing them what time you will need to remove the cookies out of the oven. (Don’t forget to set a timer just in case). You can also teach them about fractions and division while helping them cut a sandwich or their favorite fruit into halves, quarters, or thirds.   One of my sons favorites is to make chocolate covered apple slices. We use our nifty apple corer and are able to show how it goes from a whole to a half to a quarter or even smaller. Then you can use to slices to demonstrate how a fraction added to another fraction can go back to a whole. 

Chocolate Dipped Apple Slices

It is such a simple recipe and only 3 ingredients. One of my favorite things about this is that it is so quick and easy that even my 6 yr old can help make them.  There are minimal steps to making these delicious treats. Heres a quick video to show you how. Below that you will find the recipe.

Yield: 12

Chocolate Dipped Apple Slices with Sprinkles

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Delicious granny smith apple slices dipped in milk chocolate and covered in sprinkles. Can do it as a whole apple but I prefer slices for little hands and mouths.

Prep Time 5 minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes

Additional Time 15 minutes

Total Time 40 minutes

Ingredients

• 4-6 small Granny Smith apples
• 1 ½ C. milk chocolate chips
• 1 tbs coconut oils
• Christmas sprinkles
• Lollipop sticks

Instructions

1. Wash and dry apples.
2. Cut in half.
3. Cut each half into quarters
4. Turn them on their side and cut any parts with seeds.
5. Gently push a lollipop stick through each apple wedge.
6. Add coconut oil to chocolate chips and mix.
7. Put in microwave for 20-30 second intervals, mixing between each, until melted.
8. Dip each wedge into chocolate and cover on all sides.
9. Shake or tap off excess chocolate.
10. Place each one onto a parchment lined baking sheet
11. Add sprinkles.
12. Put in fridge for 15 minutes, or until firm.