This summer I wrote blog posts for parents. As I spent time with my own children over the past two weeks I thought I would share a few ideas.

How does a parent cultivate a deeper understanding of mathematical concepts without using a textbook? Winter break is the most wonderful time of the year to meaningfully apply math! Here are just a few examples of ways parents can use “what they’re already doing” to help their children.

When you’re going to bake a batch of cookies, let your child help and:

• If they are able to read the recipe, have your child read it to you to practice their comprehension of a problem solving task.
• If your child is an emerging reader, have them find letters they know and then help them say the word or the sound the letter makes.
• Explain what the symbols in a recipe represent.
• Discuss what acronyms are and make up some of your own.
• Place measuring tools in front of your child and have them find the one which goes with each symbol. Have them tell you why they chose the tool they chose.
• Have your child count the number of tools in front of them.
• Ask your child to group the tools in at least 3 different groups based upon at least one characteristic. Have them determine the characteristic and the groups.
• Have your child write the grocery list. Using the ads from the newspaper, help your child create a bargain shopping list.
• Let your child find, cut out, and use coupons to help save money on the needed items. Have them create number sentences which show how much they were able to save using coupons.
• Recipes call for different sizes of pans. Give your child measuring tape and have them find the sizes of all the pans in the cabinet. Ask them to find the pans which could be used for baking the cookies.
• Using a non-standard unit of measurement (beans or paper clips work great), have your child measure and record the perimeter (the measurement all the way around something) of at least 5 pans.  Have them use measuring tape and compare the differences.
• Have your child select one pan to find the surface area of using non-standard units of measurement such as beans or paper clips. Ask them whether or not this is the most accurate way to determine area.
• Have your child measure the ingredients using measuring cups or measuring spoons.
• Develop a readiness for multiplication of fractions by having your child “double” the recipe and write the new amount for a double batch.
• Let your child practice pouring different amounts of water into a measuring cup and read the amount poured.
• Have your child guess how much batter will be made based on the amount of ingredients. Write the estimate down and why they estimated that amount. Measure the final amount of batter.
• Based on the final amount of batter and the size of each cookie, have your child estimate the total number of cookies the recipe will make.
• Practice multiplication by arranging the cookie dough on the pan in an array. Make each pan a different size array and have your child count the total number of cookie dough portions on each pan. Ask questions about the arrays. For example, “6 rows of 3 cookies will make how many? What is the multiplication number sentence that goes with this?”
• Before starting to make the cookies, have your child estimate the amount of time it will take, from start to finish, to make all the cookies. Set a timer to count up till you finish.
• Have your child read the recipe and determine the amount of time each pan of cookies should bake in the oven. Ask them to read the time on the clock and tell you the exact time when the cookies should be removed from the oven.
• Have your child set the timer and have them check the oven window when there are two minutes left on the timer.
• Create rough drafts of cookie designs on graph paper or scratch paper. Use icing to create the design on a cookie.
• Help your child place decorated and/or baked cookies in containers in arrays. Have them create one stack in the container and then use “what they know” to determine the total number of cookies the container will hold.
• Allow your child to give a container of cookies to a neighbor. Ask them to estimate how far it is to walk to the neighbor’s house and how long it will take. Use a watch and some type of measuring device to record the results.
• After cleaning up, help your child write word problems for the math used when they were baking. Create a “Cooking Up Math Problems” book and share it with family members when they come to visit. Ask them to solve the problems and write comments in the book.
• Brainstorm with your child and list all the mathematical concepts he or she used when baking cookies. Post these on the refrigerator and give each other a hug—GREAT JOB!!!

“What a glorious thing is parenting when done right. No kid wants to clean or do homework, quit the beach when it’s fun, or be a good sport when they’re mad — yet that is often what’s needed. So the parent has to make it happen. Everyone wants to be liked all the time, but parents must learn to tolerate being the bad guy occasionally.

So to all parents who do the rarely acknowledged work of staying connected to a kid while getting the daily business done, thank you. Literally nothing is more important.” -Julie Steiny