Counting Cookies: Numbers Are Everywhere
Look at your two hands. Hold them up! You have 10 fingers. If you had a plate with 6 cookies on it and you ate 2, how many are left? That kind of question is math — and you already know more of it than you think.
What You'll Learn
- What math actually is (hint: it's not just worksheets) - How to count a group of objects up to 20 - How to tell which group has "more" or "fewer" - How math helps us in everyday life, like sharing snacks fairly
Math Is a Way of Asking "How Many?"
Every time you count how many steps to your front door, how many crayons are in the box, or how many days until your birthday, you are doing math. Math is simply a set of tools for counting, comparing, and figuring out patterns. Let's practice with cookies. Imagine a plate with 8 cookies. If 3 friends want cookies, and each friend gets 2, how many cookies get eaten? 3 groups of 2 is 6. There are 2 cookies left over on the plate.
More, Fewer, or the Same?
Math also helps us compare. If Maya has 7 marbles and Jordan has 4 marbles, who has more? Maya does, because 7 is a bigger number than 4. We can line the marbles up in two rows and see it with our own eyes — Maya's row is longer. This skill, comparing amounts, is one of the very first math tools people ever needed. Long ago, farmers used piles of stones to compare how many sheep they had from season to season, long before numbers were even written down.
Hold up fingers to show the number 5. Now hold up fingers on your other hand to show 3. Which hand shows more? Put both hands together — how many fingers are up in total?
Patterns Are Math Too
Red, blue, red, blue, red, blue — what comes next? Blue! Patterns like this are math because they follow a rule you can predict. Clocks, calendars, and even the stripes on a zebra follow patterns. When you clap a rhythm like clap-clap-stomp, clap-clap-stomp, you're using a math pattern with your whole body.
Match each number word to the correct number of dots it represents.
Terms
Definitions
Drag terms onto their definitions, or click a term then click a definition to match.
There are 9 apples in a basket. If you take away 4 apples, how many are left in the basket?
Which of these is an example of using math in everyday life?
The number zero wasn't always around! Ancient counting systems in Egypt and Rome didn't have a symbol for "nothing." The idea of zero as a real number was developed in India over 1,500 years ago and then spread around the world.
Cookie Plate Challenge
Get 10 small objects from around your house (buttons, coins, pasta pieces, or actual cookies!). Step 1: Count out exactly 10 objects onto a plate or napkin. Step 2: Split them into 2 equal groups — how many in each group? Step 3: Now split the same 10 objects into 5 equal groups. Step 4: Draw a picture showing both ways you split the objects, and write the numbers under each group. Show your two drawings to a grown-up and explain what you did.
Flashcards — click each card to reveal the answer
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