Cooking with your kids can be a fun way to introduce them to basic math principles. Small children can practice counting by measuring the cups of flour needed or by counting the correct number of eggs.
Kids can practice addition and multiplication, depending on their skill level, by doubling or tripling recipes. To start, give your child a copy of the recipe and ask him to write out the measurements for each ingredient. Once your child is able to do this easily, let him do the calculations in his head while measuring.
Cooking can also be a great way to teach fractions. Find a recipe that uses a lot of fractional measurements and let your child give you the ingredients. For a more advanced task, only let your child use one or two sizes of measuring cups or spoons. You can also have your child double or triple the recipe for you as mentioned previously.
As you teach your child through cooking, be sure to monitor his measuring and calculations to ensure that he is doing them correctly. Cooking is a fun way to teach math and shows your child how important math can be, no matter what his profession.