Grade 3-5: Cooking with Math

Baking to learn measurements is an easy, fun way of teaching math to children.  Plus you get to eat the end result. Since not everyone is a chef, but everyone has to eat, cooking is a great way to involve math and eating together!

Below is a simple recipe to make Rice Krispies squares. Choose a different recipe and let you child explore various measurements. Double the recipe and have the child calculate the new measurements.
Most of all, Have fun!

Recipe: Kellogg's Rice Krispies Treats (12 servings)
INGREDIENTS
3 tablespoons butter
1 package (10 oz., about 40) marshmallows
or 4 cups JET-PUFFED Miniature Marshmallows
6 cups Kellogg's® Rice Krispies® cereal

DIRECTIONS

1. In large saucepan melt butter over low heat. Add marshmallows and stir until completely melted. Remove from heat. 2. Add KELLOGG'S RICE KRISPIES cereal. Stir until well coated.
3. Using buttered spatula or wax paper evenly press mixture into 13 x 9 x 2-inch pan coated with cooking spray. Cool. Cut into 2-inch squares. Best if served the same day.
MICROWAVE DIRECTIONS:
In microwave-safe bowl heat butter and marshmallows on HIGH for 3 minutes, stirring after 2 minutes. Stir until smooth. Follow steps 2 and 3 above. Microwave cooking times may vary.

The ratio of ingredients is important because if you put in too much or one ingredient and not enough of another, the finished product will not be consistent and most likely won't taste good.

Math Games: Fractals

According to Merriam Webster, a fractal is a curve or geometric figure, each part of which has the same statistical character as the whole. Fractals are useful in modeling structures (such as eroded coastlines or snowflakes) in which similar patterns recur at progressively smaller scales, and in describing partly random or chaotic phenomena such as crystal growth, fluid turbulence, and galaxy formation.

The term fractal was coined by Benoit Mandelbrot in 1975 in his book Fractals: Form, Chance, and Dimension.

In 1979, while studying the Julia set, Mandelbrot discovered what is now called the Mandelbrot set and inspired a generation of mathematicians and computer programmers in the study of fractals and fractal geometry.

Fractals involve numbers and equations, like other mathematician ideas. The difference is that fractals can be used to generate complex, beautiful images. 

Here is a gallery of computer-generated fractals. 

Math Games: Elementary Math Scavenger Hunt

© Diane Chase, www.AdirondackFamilyTime.com

Get ready for summer with a math scavenger hunt. Combine nature with math! 

Counting: 

Can your child find 1 leaf, 2 dandelions, 3 flowering trees, 4 birds, and 5 pebbles? 

How many flowers does he or she see? 

What other things is your child observing? 

Pick a bouquet of flowers and count how many flowers of each color,  add them together. 

How many petals are on a particular flower? 

Math Cartoon

Math Tips 5¢

(credited to Blair)

Pythagorean Theorem

Here’s the Pythagorean theorem demonstrated visibly

a² + b² = c²