This got me thinking about how confusing it is for young teachers to plan an activity and to really pinpoint what the goals are and what learning is taking place.  Her thinking was that the children would be exploring “ants” as a part of their study about insects.  So I asked her, “What will they learn about ants?” and she looked at me rather confused and said, “But it is called Ants on a Log.”

A food experience can nearly always involve math.  There is measuring, filling, emptying, separating, and combining. When preparing Ants on a Log, children can choose how many ants they want to place on their log. They can eat some of their ants and then add some more, and they can saw their own logs into shorter pieces and add lots of cream cheese.  It is also a food experience that allows children to do nearly all of the preparation, with little to no need for adult help.

It is NOT a study of insects.

It is fun.

It is NOT a science activity.

It is a math activity.

It might be a health activity, depending on the focus of the conversation surrounding it.

Here is a really nice video of a young teacher working with her group as they make their own Ants on a Log.

Here’s one that is virtually fool-proof.  Perfect for an afternoon snack- make them in the morning, refrigerate, and then toast in the afternoon for a healthy, home-made treat that the children make themselves.

Pizza Bagels

Ingredients

Frozen whole grain bagels (mini-bagels are great too)

Low-fat shredded mozzarella cheese

Pizza sauce (be sure to look at the labels as many pizza sauces are filled with sugar)

Instructions

Separate the bagels into halves

Have each child take a half of a bagel (or 2 halves if you are using mini-bagels)

Place small bowls of pizza sauce and shredded mozzarella cheese around the table and give each child a spoon

Have the children spread their pizza sauce on their bagel and then decorate with the cheese

Place them on a cookie sheet or the toaster oven tray and make a map of where to find each child’s creations

Toast until cooked.

Serve the children their very own Pizza Bagel!

There are lots of opportunities to use math vocabulary during this food experience.  The most obvious is that bagels are nearly always cut in half.  Make sure to ask the children if they want “a half of a bagel,” or “two-halves or a whole bagel.”  Words like “some” cheese, or “a lot” of sauce should be used and then reinforced with relative comparisons, such as, “You used a lot of cheese, but only a little sauce, while Maria used only a little bit of cheese and a lot of sauce.”

We don’t include children because they are competent.

Children become competent because we include them.

 

This was said in reference to completing a food experience with young children. The children were baking something that required eggs.  The film shows many children trying to break eggs without getting the shells in the bowl.  The teacher was smart – she didn’t have the children break the eggs into the batter; she had them break the eggs into their own separate bowls.  That way she could sift the shells out and use the eggs for something else.  Children don’t learn to break eggs by watching other people break eggs.  They learn to break eggs by breaking eggs. They become competent at breaking eggs by breaking eggs and becoming competent.

This principle is one that I followed with my own children and one that I followed as a teacher.  Yes, food experiences are easier if the teacher completes the difficult stuff and then simply lets the children stir.  Your baked goods will have less shells in them, but the children will have engaged in a watching activity rather than a food activity.  You might as well put them in front of Paula Deen and call it a day.

As you begin preparing your holiday menus, try and include your children in the food preparation as much as possible.  Think of ways that they can participate actively rather than observe the activity.  Let them prepare, cook, and eat their efforts.  This is a great way to let them truly engage in the festivities as they grow more and more competent.

Happy Thanksgiving Early Math Counts Readers!