5 food activities to help kids learn about numbers, patterns and sorting

Learn about numbers, patterns and sorting using food

Today, grasping at straws to engage the kids during this strange and unusual homeschooling situation (COVID-19 2020), I naturally turned to food. Amongst the chaos of 4 boys (aged 10 months – 7 years), I managed to quickly prepare these activities throughout the day. They loved it and most of it was gobbled up too. I’m no teacher so can’t accurately describe the principles, but based on some of the actives we had been assigned by our amazing teachers we created these ‘games’. In a nutshell here they are:

We hope you enjoy them!

1. PATTERNS

Choose some fruits and vegetables in a variety of different colours and shapes and create patterns. I began the pattern and Hamish (5) completed it. We had yellow capsicum in the container too however he ate it before we had the chance to get started! Win win.

2. SORTING

Use a fun size packet of smarties, m&m’s or coloured lollies and sort them into groups of colours. Great for preschoolers and kindy kids. Eat and enjoy them too, of course!

3. GRAPHS

You can take the sorting a step further and once you have sorted them into groups of colours, try graphing them. Which was the most popular colour? Which was the least popular colour? Try it another day and see how the packets compare, or try it with a friend or sibling and see how they are different.

4. MEASUREMENT

Cut slices of fruit or veggie sticks, place them on a plate at random and let your child organise them from smallest to tallest or tallest to smallest. For preschoolers it might be quite simple but you can make it more challenging for the older kids by using more lengths with more subtle differences between the lengths.

5. SHAPES

We didn’t have time for this today, however we have created and enjoyed this before. It’s particularly fun for the preschoolers and kindy kids.

Create a small platter with an assortment of food e.g. cooked or raw pasta, sliced fruit and vegetables, nuts*, dried beans, bread, crackers and cut into a variety of shapes if you like. Outline the shapes on a piece of paper and let your child move the food into the correct spaces. You can read more detail on this activity here.

* Consider the age and allergies of any children when choosing food to use in this activity.

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