Count the Chips on the Chocolate Chip Cookies!
Date: 6th July, 2022; Wednesday.
Facilitators: Sanmoyee.
Participants: Ayansh, Vaanya, Arya, Rishit, Meher, Shivanshikaa, Nitara.
Materials Used: Chocolate chip cookie cutouts, Worksheets, Glue sticks.
Tags: Maths, Counting, Number Sense, Worksheets.
Setup and objective
Cookies made out of paper were set on the table. Each cookie was dotted with a number of 'chocolate chips' ranging from 1 to 5. Worksheets and glue sticks were also provided, where each worksheet had the outlines of 5 cookies, with the numbers 1-5 inscribed inside. The goal was for the children to count the chocolate chips on each cookie, and then stick them on the correct numbered outline, thus correlating the meaning of a number with its symbol.
Rishit captured mid-count!
Nitara busy making her plate of cookies.
How many cookies do you see?
How It Happened
Ayansh opened the activity by helping Sanmoyee Didi choose a chocolate chip cookie, and then counting the number of chips that he could see. He correctly identified the spot that the cookie could be placed on the worksheet, by matching the number of chips with the corresponding number symbol.
Vaanya and Arya approached the table with enthusiasm. Sanmoyee Didi asked: Do you like cookies? Vaanya declared that she liked cookies with more chocolate chips in them. Vaanya and Arya quickly picked out cookies to match.
Rishit and Meher, along with Barnali Didi, joined in the activity. Rishit enjoyed counting quickly!
Vaanya and Arya decided to stick a second round of cookies and were faced with a problem – they could not find enough cookies with 2, 3 and 4 chips! Sanmoyee Didi then challenged them to sort the cookies to help them find the right ones. They both were able to find cookies with the right number of chips. Sanmoyee Didi gave Vaanya a cookie and claimed that it had 5 chips. However, Vaanya decided not to trust this information without evidence. After several rounds of counting the chips, she was convinced that there were, indeed, 5. She finished the activity by writing her name on her worksheet all by herself.
Priyanka Didi and Nitara collaborating on a plate of cookies!
Arthlings hard at play!
Skills Used
Counting one-to-one
Number sense
Focus and attention
Fine motor skills
A cookie feast.
Outcome and Future
This activity was an exercise in counting with one-to-one correspondence. It also allowed the children to correlate the meaning of a number with its corresponding symbol.
Counting random configurations of dots also lays the groundwork for subitization, which is the ability to visually judge the number of objects in a small group without counting them one by one. This is an important skill for everyday life.
This activity can be extended to include adding and removing dots as necessary to match a given number. It can be followed by further exercises that develop counting skills and number sense.