🎓 Skills Your Child Will Develop

• 🌈 Growth Mindset — Children who enter kindergarten believing that effort leads to improvement approach the inevitable challenges of learning new skills with the persistence that makes challenges productive rather than threatening.
• 🔢 Early Mathematical Thinking — Hands-on counting, sorting, pattern work, and early number sense build the mathematical foundation that kindergarten math curriculum builds on and that research consistently links to long-term math achievement.
• 💬 Language & Communication — A child who can express needs clearly, tell a sequential story, ask for help appropriately, and answer questions in complete sentences has the language toolkit that classroom participation requires.
• ⚡ Executive Function — Kindergarten demands enormous executive function: remembering multi-step directions, stopping one activity and starting another, following rules consistently, and managing impulses in a group. Early executive function development is the highest-return kindergarten readiness investment.

The important basics of math are easily practiced and incorporated into routines such as meal time. Use the time you already spend in the kitchen to improve math skills and prepare your child for kindergarten.

Preschoolers learn best in everyday activities. Learning math is no different. Most preschoolers love to help in the kitchen as well. Combining the two activities is not difficult at all. Build preschool math skills in a fun way using these three concepts.

Less and More

The concepts of "less than" and "more than" are very important to building preschool math skills. Illustrating these concepts is easy to do while preparing food, sitting at the table or even while cleaning up the kitchen.

While preparing food, call attention to the size of measuring cups and spoons. Ask your preschooler which cup holds more and which holds less. Allow them to hold the cups and do some of the measuring themselves to experiment with the concepts. While eating at the table, preschoolers will usually notice if someone else has more of a favorite food. Talk about who has less and more on their plate. While cleaning the kitchen, stack the dishes. Compare stacks to see which has less or more.

Categorize

Help your preschooler to categorize. Categorizing requires a preschooler to notice what is the same in a group of items and what is different. Categorize everything by color, shape or use.

Make a game of categorizing. For example: eat all the green food first, eat the orange food last. Use whatever category works best for your family. Clearing the table is a great way to categorize. Clean off everything that you use to pick up food first, then clean off everything that holds food, continue until your table is clear. Preschoolers learn categorizing and self-help skills with this activity.

Counting

Object counting is a harder concept for preschoolers to master than counting by memory. Practice counting objects while setting the table, cooking and while clearing the table.

Allow your preschooler to count the silverware to set the table. Ask him to take 4 spoons, 4 forks and 4 knives from the silverware drawer. Assist him if necessary. As you set the table, count again you place the utensil on the table. Count plates, cups, and napkins, as well. Anything in the kitchen can be counted, so keep counting. Practice makes perfect for your preschooler.

Use time spent in meal preparation and clean-up to build math skills. Counting, categorizing and understanding the concepts of less and more are only a few of the skills on which parents and preschoolers can work while in the kitchen. Get creative to strengthen kindergarten math skills.