Food for Thought: Use Food as a Math Manipulative

For some reason I have math on my mind, so I’m going to continue this week by sharing what food items students can use as a math manipulative. Math manipulatives are engaging for students because they make math come alive in a concrete way. Students can grasp math concepts easier when they can touch it, see it, and talk about it using rich math vocabulary. Occasionally using food as this tool can up the interest another notch because, then, at the end they can eat it, too! What student isn’t motivated by snacks?

Here are 10 ways to use food as a math manipulative!

1. Colored Goldfish for sorting. You could have a sorting mat available with the color names listed or just have students sort them on a paper plate. Have students count how many Goldfish of each color s/he has. Have them use math vocabulary to make comparisons between their piles. Here’s a free sorting mat from Teachers Pay Teachers.

2. Skittles/M & Ms for graphing. First, give each student a snack size bag of candy. Then, have the students sort them by color. Next, students count and record how many of each color they have. Last, have students write conclusions using math terms. Here’s a free graph for this activity from Teachers Pay Teachers.

3. Fruit Loops for making patterns. Students can make color patterns using Fruit Loops. They can even put them onto a piece of yarn to make a necklace. Tip: If using yarn, be sure to wrap a piece of tape around the end to create a needle for threading the cereal, so it doesn’t unravel. Here is the activity with more details from education.com.

4. Candy corn for greater than/less than. With Halloween coming up, candy corn is in the store. Have students use candy corn between two numbers to compare them. Here’s another freebie from TPT.

5. Pretzel sticks for tallies. Give students a list of numbers and have students use pretzel sticks to show how each number would look as tally marks. You can have students record the tally marks on the paper as well, if you want them to turn in their work. This idea came from Clearly Primary.

6. Square-shaped cracker (saltine, Cheez-It, Wheat Thin), pretzel sticks, and Cheerios for base ten blocks. Have a mat labeled with three columns. One for ones, one for tens, and one for hundreds. Students can build numbers on the mat using these foods.

7. Cookies for fractions. Use The Doorbell Rang by Pat Hutchins to show some real world math and, then, students can divide cookies up just like in the book. I recommend passing out a new cookie for showing each fraction.

8. Graham crackers for fractions. Another idea for showing fractions is using graham crackers. They already have the lines for breaking up to fourths. Students can show one whole, halves, and fourths using one cracker. (This will probably be more cost effective than cookies.)

9. Crackers, combos, marshmallows, pretzel sticks, pepperoni, Bugles, Kit Kats, and chocolate chips for sorting 2D and 3D shapes. Give each student one of each of these items and, then, have them sort the items based on 2D or 3D. This idea comes from The Best Life…Kindergarten Life.

10. Marshmallows and toothpicks for building 3D shapes. Have students connnect marshmallows together with toothpicks to create 3D shape models. Make sure they can identify the shapes they have made!

Conclusion

I hope these ideas will excite even your most reluctant mathematicians! As always be sure to check on any food allergies before using food in your classroom. If you’re looking to add more math manipulatives to your classroom that aren’t edible, check out last week’s post on 5 of the Most Versatile Math Manipulatives! And if you love using food for learning check out 10 Simple No-Bake Snacks to Make in the Classroom. Let me know in the comments which ideas you try or if you have any to add to the list.