Making Soup

Activity Overview

This simple math activity helps reinforce a variety of important early math skills. While “making soup,” students practice counting, grouping, and one-to-one correspondence. Additionally, while the students are moving and mixing ingredients they are engaging in early addition and subtraction work as well as more complex problem solving situations. This activity also encourages fine motor development through pinching and mixing.

What You Need

• Up to 10 bowls, cups, or other containers to hold “soup.” Start with a number that your student feels confident with - perhaps you start with two or three, and work your way up to 10 in future sessions.

• A collection of colorful manipulative items (beads, counting bears, marbles, rocks, pom poms, cotton balls, buttons) - Please be mindful of your student’s age and whether the selected items present a choking hazard.

• One large container or tub

• A pair of kitchen tongs

• Number Dot Cards from the Number Dot Cards Activity

• Tape or sticky tack

Steps

1. Prepare the soup ingredients: Put all of the manipulative items into the large container or tub.

2. Prepare the soup bowls: Set out up to 10 bowls, cups, Tupperware containers, or pots and pans on a large table or the floor.

3. Prepare the recipe for each soup bowl: Designate a number to each bowl by attaching a Number Dot Card using tape or sticky tack or by setting one card in front of each bowl.

4. Make soup: Use the kitchen tongs to pick up items from the tub and drop them into the soup bowls. Be sure to follow each soup’s recipe (matching the quantity of items placed into the bowl to the number on the card attached to the bowl). Count the ingredients as you add them to the bowl.

5. Enjoy “eating the soup” with the people around you!

Guiding Questions

• How many ingredients does this bowl of soup need?

• What ingredients are you placing into this bowl?

• Which of these containers has more ingredients? How do you know?

Extensions

• Try different recipes for making soup:

  • By color: Place all items of the same color in one bowl (for example: all yellow items in one bowl, all blue items in one bowl, all red items in one bowl).

  • By type: Place all items of the same type in one bowl (for example: all counting bears in one bowl, all pom poms in one bowl, all rocks in one bowl).

• Use different utensils to make the soup, such as a spoon, ladle, or spatula.