Use cooking games for math teaching your kids

Math is a complex concept which requires a lot of practice and use. However, children don’t want to sit down and put the pen on the paper. Therefore, parents and scientists have to find new and interesting ideas for explanation of this subject. Cooking technique is just one of those ideas. It is identified as an extremely effective tool for better explanation of math. On the other hand, we all know that cooking together with your child can be a little bit risky. It’s because it includes baking, frying or simply using a kitchen knife. As an alternative, you can use cooking games which are highly sophisticated and offer the feeling of being in a real kitchen. Using cooking technique for math explanation is good, because the food satisfies basic human needs, say the experts. By teaching in a way that involves our basic need, you make the lesson much more real and concrete. Young children are tactical and visual learners. They will never forget how they made those chocolate cookies. The lesson will be memorized for a longer period. Before you start with the math lessons, make sure you’ve selected a game that your child likes. If he wants to make chocolate cookies, find that kind of game. If he prefers a fruit cake, pizza or ice cream, search for that one. Once you find the perfect game for him, you can start with math lessons. Here is how this concept works: Learning the counting lesson When using a cooking game in your teaching process, there are varieties of options for counting lessons. For an example, at the very beginning of the game, you can count the ingredients needed for making the chocolate cake. Count the eggs needed for the cake, the spoons of flour and everything else. Teaching the addition and subtraction concept Explain the addition as putting things together and subtraction as taking things apart. In the cooking game you use questions like: If you have 2 cupcakes, and add 2 more, how many do you have? Or, if I have 5 cherries and I eat 2, how many do I have left? It’s really important to make good formulation of the questions. Your kid has to understand what you’re asking. Recognizing and identifying different shapes Practice recognizing and identifying shapes together with your child. You can encourage your child’s interest by comparing the shapes of some kitchen accessories. Then, find words to describe that shape (for example, the triangle has three corners and three sides). Give your child a little task. Ask him to find objects which have triangular or squared shape. Learning math vocabulary It’s really important to introduce your child with the world of math vocabulary. In order to do that, you can use simple tactic. Tell him to make two different pizzas in two separate games. Discuss with your child using math vocabulary in a context such as: Which cake is bigger, the first one or the second one? Extend the math lessons by adding new words at a time. For an instance: the smaller, the bigger, the same number as, less, fewer, the most, first, second, third and so on. Cooking games can be used for learning math in many ways. Find the one that is proper for your child and start playing these kinds of games.