Activity: Squishy Edibles

Provide opportunities for perfectly "delicious" social interaction between your child and a friend and build math measurement skills by creating interesting kid-friendly treats.

Materials:

• instant chocolate pudding (no cooking needed)
• measuring tools
• small clear/plastic cups
• spoons
• gummy worms
• graham crackers

Directions:
Mix pudding by directions. Be sure to invite your child (and friend) to help measure and mix pudding ingredients. Before pudding sets, pour mixture into cups. Add gummy worms and sprinkle with graham cracker crumbs and enjoy! Encourage children to help in the clean up. Option: Instead of individual cups, made a big bowl of edible worms!

Talk about It: Ask your child to share what he/she thinks is fun (or perhaps challenging) about cooking with a friend. Then talk about ways that cooking and using measurement tools helps to build important math skills. Name other favorite family recipes that call for ingredients to be measured.

Take it Further: Use these fun ideas to reinforce more math measurement and fun time with friends in the kitchen:

• Read: Gobble up Math, Grades K-3: Fun Activities to Complete and Eat by Sue Mogard, Ginny McDonnell, Kelly Kennedy (Illustrator)
• Create cookie sandwiches by making peanut and butter, or other choice of sandwiches. Use favorite cookie cutter(s) to press out interestingly shaped edible sandwiches.

With a Group: Edible Fish- Have fun working in smalls groups to create individual "aquariums." Begin by helping friends working together to make 2-3 large packages of blue Jell-O in a big clear container. Then have each child fill an individual cup with the Jell-O mixture to make a mini-aquarium. Place cups on a tray and place in refrigerator. Before the mixture is complete set (after about 1 hour in the refrigerator), add fruit flavored fish or sharks to each cup. When set, eat and enjoy. Option: Make "seasicles" by adding fruit fish/sharks to blue or green fruit drink mix poured into popsicle molds and frozen.