Teaching Fractions Made Easy

The children in my life struggle with fractions.  Even the mention of them is enough to cause a few of them anxiety.  Moving the learning of fractions in the kitchen made things so much easier and far less painful.

To begin pick a simple recipe with few ingredients and whole cup ingredients.  Rice Crispy treats or pudding work well.  Read the directions out loud and demonstrate how to measure the ingredients.  Let the children practice measuring liquids and dry ingredients.  When the recipe is completed have the children help wash the dishes by hand and encourage them to measure different amounts of dish water and rinse water.  Let them have fun!

The next time make things a bit more difficult.  Use partial cup measures (like the tin or plastic ½, 1/3, or ¼ cup measures) to measure a cup of ingredients.  For example, a recipe calls for one cup of rice.  Have the child or children measure four ¼ cup measures into the pan.  A few times doing this and children know that the bottom number of the fraction indicates how many are needed to make a whole cup.  Once this is familiar – use a ¼ cup measure to get a half of a cup.  Before long the children have a very clear understanding of basic fractions.

As the children progress to move complex learning, increase the complexity of the cooking.  Multiplication of fractions is easily introduced by double or tripling a recipe for company.  Start with the recipe, paper and pencils.  Explain that you are going to double the recipe.  One by one show the child or children how to multiply the amount of each ingredient.  After you do a couple, ask them to figure the next one.  Continue the practice with another recipe (even if you are not going to make it that day).

Follow each session in the kitchen with written material or worksheets to reinforce what the child or children learned in the kitchen.  It is not nearly as difficult when it is connected to the real application see and done in the kitchen.