Table of Contents
Since math is one of the most difficult disciplines, students often have a love-hate relationship with it. They will either love solving mathematical problems or are absolutely traumatized by the subject.
In order to build analytical thinking skills, problem-solving efficiency, free thought, and logical thinking and reasoning, mathematics is crucial for students’ intellectual growth. Although, it can be quite stressful for students to express an interest in math’s, but if they have the correct resources, absolutely everyone can study maths and like it.
But, can we really use math in the kitchen?
Math is used in every nook and corner of the universe. Mathematics is everywhere in technology, science, society, fashion, music, sports and even in the cooking industry.
Cooking is a perfect amalgamation of art, science, and math. You must combine the proper amounts of milk, sugar, tea, and spices to make the perfect cup of tea.
Also, you don’t need pricey lab gear or instructional materials to teach your children maths and science. Children can learn about a variety of mathematical topics in the convenience of your kitchen, from grocery shopping to pantry organization by keeping products in containers of varying sizes and measuring quantities for kid-friendly meals. Children will understand the value of math’s when they see how it is used in everyday situations to perform the most basic calculations.
Below are some examples of how is math used in kitchen.
Interesting Ways of Teaching Math Concepts in the Kitchen
1. Grocery Shopping
When purchasing food and kitchen supplies, there is a significant amount of maths involved such as evaluating expenditures, making meal plans, and sticking to a set budget plan.
The activity: Ask your child to construct a shopping list of the products he or she needs and select the necessary number from the shop shelves the next time you need to visit the nearby supermarket to restock your pantry. You can ask your child to count out loud how many things are in the cart and compare it to the list they wrote.
2. Baking Cookies
You may give your child an understanding introduction to certain fundamental forms, such as square, rectangle, and triangle, by helping them bake cookies.
The activity: You can involve the child in the entire process, from preparing the cookie batter to shaping the dough. You will need cookie cutters in a variety of shapes for this. While your child is molding the dough, it’s crucial to label each shape. You can give the cookies to your child and ask him or her whether he or she remembers the names of the different shapes after you’ve baked and cooled them in the oven.
3. Estimating Requirement
In mathematics, estimation is a key skill. Your child will learn how to fast approximate without the aid of a calculator.
The activity: Inquire of your child how many candy packets she could need to purchase to share with her classmates. A packet of 30 candies can cost Rs 100. For her class of 90 pupils, how many packets would she need to purchase, and how much would it cost?
4. Measuring Proportions
Older children can assist you in weighing the items needed to prepare their favorite food. It is common for recipes to instruct you to weigh your ingredients in grams, pounds, or ounces.
The activity: If your child learns how much of each item to add, she can easily make the easy drink lime juice on her own. You can explain to her that she needs to squeeze the juice from one lemon into one glass of water and add two tablespoons of sugar to make one glass of lemonade. Asking her to make two glasses of lime juice in stages while explaining the necessity to proportionally increase the amount of sugar and lime extract which thus explains to her the concepts of ratios and proportions.
The activity: The second activity that your child can do is to measure different volumes. Volume is the measure of how much space something occupies.
For example, we use a Teaspoon (tsp) and a Tablespoon (Tbsp) for measuring small volumes and we use a Cup or a Vessel for measuring medium volumes.
5. Calculating Calories
Counting calories may seem strange to some people, especially children, but it’s a terrific approach to teaching people the value of eating when they are actually hungry.
The activity: By looking at the food label, have your child estimate how many calories he/she may ingest from a packet of chips. Give your child an explanation of how calories are used to quantify the amount of energy in food and how consuming more calories than necessary might result in weight growth.
6. Salad Dressing and Fractions
The understanding of fractions and decimals can be developed significantly by experimenting with this method.
The activity: You may ask your child to follow the recipe and create a dressing for a salad at home.
Recipe: ½ Cup of Extra Virgin Olive Oil ¼ Cup of balsamic vinegar One Pinch of Oregano & Thyme One Pinch of Salt |
You may enquire about how they would double the recipe or determine the decimal equivalents of the fractions in the recipe.
7. Conversion and Weights
This is a fantastic chance to demonstrate to your children how to locate and solve conversions as well as how weights, proportions, and the differences in the metric system are all converted.
The activity: Start by investigating the topic by posing queries like Which weighs more, a kilogramme of potatoes or a kilogramme/litre of milk? This will help them to understand the differences in the metric system in a much better manner.
8. Calculating Time
Allowing older children to participate in cooking activities that need time interval calculations, helps them practice and improve their understanding of time concepts.
The activity: It will be simpler for you to allow your children to learn how to tell time and create plans as a result. To ensure that the entire dinner is prepared at once, the children must be taught how to schedule when each task will be completed.
9. Understanding Labels
Teach your child to count fat, fiber, vitamins, and other nutrients using the nutrition labels. Children should be shown where to find nutrition labels. They are able to monitor their diet and gauge its healthiness in this way.
The activity: Ask your child to read the nutrient labels at the back side of the bag of chips he/she is eating. Now ask them to read the labels aloud. Ask them the count of fat, fiber, vitamins, and minerals on it. Make them understand what things are healthy for their body and what things aren’t. Your child will learn the value of eating well from this and will undoubtedly start reading labels going forward.
10. Graphing in the Kitchen
Graphs can be an interesting way of using math in kitchen projects. They are colorful, fun, and attractive.
The activity: Get your colored pens, and graph paper, and begin asking your family members about their dining preferences. What about their preferred cuisine? or their least preferred ingredient?
Get all the information, then arrange it into simple or sophisticated graphs. This action has no boundaries. By learning how to use Excel sheets, older children may accomplish it.
We hope that these few culinary exercises will help you learn maths ideas in a way that will help you remember them for a longer length of time and make learning maths fun.