Kitchen Measuring Teaching Resources
Doesn’t it feel like it takes forever to help your culinary arts students understand basic kitchen measurements?
I find that introducing it with a lesson first lays the groundwork and helps to give some foundational knowledge of the math involved. Some of it can be simple once your kids grasp the concept.
Ways to Teach Basic Culinary Math Skills
- Present the basics of dry and wet measurements in a slide show with some engaging questions. This Utah Education Network has free kitchen measurement worksheet downloads. Or our kitchen measurement lesson plan pictured below.
2. Give them a simple recipe to mise en place and have all their measuring equipment out so they can demonstrate their measuring skills. You don’t even have to make the recipe. Just have them prep and explain the measurements they will use.
3. Practice recipe conversions because it shows the real-life application to the students. We like to start with Bisquick because it only includes a few ingredients and prompts ratios for the kids. They make pancakes or you can do strawberry shortcakes using the same mix if you want to try something different.
Students can practice measuring ingredients in a real kitchen setting, with an original recipe, using measuring cups, spoons, and scales to accurately measure quantities. You can also provide opportunities for students to explore different types of measurements, such as liquid vs. dry ingredients, and demonstrate how to properly level off measurements for accuracy. Students will realize that kitchen math involves basic addition and simple math problems that they can tackle.
Provide students with a recipe that uses a baking ratio, such as the 1:2:3 ratio for making pie dough or the 2:1 ratio for making biscuits. Ask them to measure out the ingredients using the appropriate measuring tools and explain how the ratio works. You can also ask them to experiment with the ratio by adding or subtracting ingredients to see how it affects the outcome.
4- Kitchen Measurement digital escape room. This digital escape room takes about 40 minutes and is assigned to students in Google. If you don’t have Google access at your school, you can print each clue and have students check in with you to see if they answered the code correctly. Chris has to do this because his school is strictly Microsoft.
5- Adjust Entree Items and Dessert Items for a Food Allergy- Give students a menu that includes a recipe such as chocolate chip cookies and have students adjust the recipe to accommodate a food allergy. When they substitute certain ingredients, they will have to incorporate kitchen measurements for the substitution. This kind of activity has them practicing working with a recipe and coming up with a culinary formula that they may use in the future. If they become kitchen workers, they will face similar situations when preparing food for those with food allergies and sensitivities. To take it a step further, they can factor in the menu price change for an allergy-free menu item.
6- Calculating Food Costs-Ask students to calculate the cost of a recipe by determining the price per unit for each ingredient and then adding up the total cost. Students will then be able to determine the plate cost and portion cost to try to stay within a certain budget. This can help them understand the importance of cost management in the food industry. We have a food costing lesson plan that includes all you need to introduce the topic including a slideshow, guided notes, and practice.
To take it a step further, have them do menu planning: Ask students to plan a menu for a special event, such as a dinner party or a school fundraiser. They can choose a theme and create a menu that includes appetizers, entrees, and desserts. They will need to calculate ingredient amounts, cost, and yield percentage for each recipe to ensure they have enough food and stay within budget and the correct number of servings.
7- Metric Conversions– for a more advanced activity have students convert recipes from the imperial to the metric system.
- Objective: To teach students how to convert between metric and imperial units of measurement and the conversion factor.
- Activity: Provide students with a recipe that uses metric units of measurement and ask them to convert the measurements to imperial units. You can also provide a recipe that uses imperial units and ask them to convert to metric. You can use measuring tools and visual aids to help them understand the different units of measurement.
Assessing Student Kitchen Math Skills That Won’t Bore Them
Assessing Student Kitchen Math Skills That Won’t Bore Them
Of course, at some point, you need to assess where your students are regarding kitchen math. So, hold your breath and give them a quiz on the subject to see where they are and if you still need to spend time on it. This drag-and-drop kitchen measurement is in our TPT store and uses TPT’s Easel to self-correct as students work through the assignment. This can be purchased in our TPT store and would be used by TPT’s Easel, it cannot be used in Google Classroom or Microsoft Teams.
It’s fun to give them challenging measuring questions as trivia like how many teaspoons are in a gallon? Some kids can really catch on to this quickly and begin to understand a true chef’s routine.
You either assign this in Google Classroom or give your students the link and they can open it that way. You get feedback on their progress without all of the grading and they are engaged and can practice over and over!
Hopefully, with lots of practice and these fun activities, your students will master the art of kitchen math and what it is like to work in a home kitchen creating recipes or a professional kitchen some day. Check out our blog post about using digital escape rooms in the classroom for more information about an engaging teaching strategy!
Teaching students the important life skills of kitchen math and measurement will have lasting effects with real life skills.
Check out our other blog post about teaching food science to CTE culinary and agricultural education students. We also have a blog post about breakfast foods activities and lesson plans. This has students learn about different types of breakfast entree and other items as well as styles of breakfast service.
These culinary arts lesson plans are a great way to be prepared for teaching while you are busy with recipes and cooking. Instead of spending time on the weekends and during the weeknights planning, let us help you with our full culinary arts curriculum bundle in our shop or individual lesson plans that are no prep and ready to teach!
To get 10% off your first order, use the coupon code “thankyou” at checkout. It includes the bundle and all the items in our culinary arts and family consumer science store!
