• Skip to main content
  • Skip to header right navigation
  • Skip to site footer
  • About
  • Shop
  • Press
  • Media Kit
  • Contact
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • Instagram
  • YouTube

teach mama logo

teach mama

helps families connect & build bridges between home & school, by amy mascott

  • early literacy
    • alphabet
    • beginning sounds
    • phonics
    • phonological awareness
    • read-aloud learning
    • rhyming
    • sight words
  • reading
    • books
    • comprehension
      • activating schema
      • connecting
      • inferring
      • predicting
      • questioning
      • retelling / summarizing
      • visualizing
    • concepts of print
    • environmental print
    • fluency
    • non-fiction
    • spelling
    • word building
    • word consciousness
    • vocabulary
  • writing
    • creative writing
    • grammar
    • informative writing
    • tripod grip
  • math
    • computation
    • counting
    • numbers
  • science
    • animals
    • plants
    • science experiments for kids
  • Activities
    • birthdays
    • cooking
      • new for us foods
    • crafts
    • foundations
      • colors
      • critical thinking
      • fine arts
      • listening
      • pretend play
      • sorting
      • speaking
    • holidays
      • new year’s
      • valentine’s day
      • president’s day
      • st. patrick’s day
      • april fool’s day
      • easter
      • mother’s day
      • teacher appreciation
      • father’s day
      • july 4th
      • halloween
      • thanksgiving
      • christmas
    • family life
      • family fun
      • giving back
      • lunchbox love notes
      • school
    • indoor activities
    • outdoor activities
  • digital literacy
    • computer time
    • iPad for learning
  • early literacy
    • alphabet
    • beginning sounds
    • phonics
    • phonological awareness
    • read-aloud learning
    • rhyming
    • sight words
  • reading
    • books
    • comprehension
      • activating schema
      • connecting
      • inferring
      • predicting
      • questioning
      • retelling / summarizing
      • visualizing
    • concepts of print
    • environmental print
    • fluency
    • non-fiction
    • spelling
    • word building
    • word consciousness
    • vocabulary
  • writing
    • creative writing
    • grammar
    • informative writing
    • tripod grip
  • math
    • computation
    • counting
    • numbers
  • science
    • animals
    • plants
    • science experiments for kids
  • Activities
    • birthdays
    • cooking
      • new for us foods
    • crafts
    • foundations
      • colors
      • critical thinking
      • fine arts
      • listening
      • pretend play
      • sorting
      • speaking
    • holidays
      • new year’s
      • valentine’s day
      • president’s day
      • st. patrick’s day
      • april fool’s day
      • easter
      • mother’s day
      • teacher appreciation
      • father’s day
      • july 4th
      • halloween
      • thanksgiving
      • christmas
    • family life
      • family fun
      • giving back
      • lunchbox love notes
      • school
    • indoor activities
    • outdoor activities
  • digital literacy
    • computer time
    • iPad for learning
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

pretzel patterns: learning during snacktime

home / Activities / foundations / critical thinking / pretzel patterns: learning during snacktime
240 shares
  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Email
  • Print

pretzel patterns learning during snacktimeIt’s been crazy over here for the past few weeks, with nutty, awful weather, with colds and stomach bugs, lots of late meetings, and lots of end-of-season hurrahs.

So our learning has had to be really–really!–sneaky in order to keep my kiddos engaged and interested. And that’s fine by me.

After the kids came home from school and we all finally sat down at the kitchen table for a snack, we got a little pattern happy.

Pattern work is a fun and hands-on math skill that is often overlooked–and it’s something that you can take just about anywhere, any time. Even in the kitchen.

And our family? We love when our learning involves food.

Here’s the skinny. . .

  • Pretzel Patterns– Learning During Snacktime: Simple. That’s what this was, but it allowed our little Cora to share some of her recent pattern-knowledge at home, at our kitchen table.

It started out really with three kids muching and crunching on pretzel sticks, and it morphed into a chat about pattern making, which is a foundation of Kindergarten math curriculum.

Cora placed several sticks in a row and said, Hey Mom! Look, it’s an AAAB pattern. With pretzel sticks!

I said, Oh my gosh–you’re right.ย  What other patters have you learned this year? Hmmmm. The ABAB pattern?ย  Can you make that one with pretzels?

pretzel patterns learning during snacktime

Owen tries hard to make THE most difficult pretzel pattern ever created. . .

pretzel patterns learning during snacktime

. . . but I think there’s nothing wrong with a little ABAB.

 

She started biting and nibbling (sure she could have broken them, but eating is so much more fun!).ย  And then she said, YAY! ABAB pattern with pretzels–big-little-big-little-big-little.

At this point, Owen and Maddy were trying to wow us with their crazy patterns–ABCD or AABC or ABBD–like big first graders and third graders can do. But I was really just so thrilled that Cora started this game, so I wanted to have her run with it.

We chatted about simple patterns: ABAB, ABCABC. And we chatted about Maddy and Owen’s more difficult patterns.ย  And we decided that the only thing a pattern needed was to repeat in an organized way.ย ย 

Easy. And so fun.

And before we knew it, pretzels were gone, snacktime was over, homework was being done, kids were getting changed for gymnastics, and we were all in the car, moving onto the very next thing.

pretzel patterns learning during snacktime colors

When Cora needed help with colors, we leaned on the ole pretzel sticks and goldfish: Fishing for Colors. Woot.

And that’s it–just a really quick, super-on-the-fly, way of sneaking in some fun learning–to reinforce school learning–during 10 minutes of snacktime.

It reminded me that we have done a whole lot of learning with food over the years–a whole lot of learning with food.

And you know what? I think that’s pretty cool.

Check out just two of our many, many previous Learning With Food posts if you please:

  • Learning With Food: kids in the kitchen
  • Getting Kids to Try New Foods

. . . and if you have other fun ways to practice patterns, or playing with food, please let me know!

You May Also Like...

  • how to prepare your child for kindergarten -- summertime prep
    how to prepare your child for kindergarten -- summertime prep
  • Navigating Education in a Time of Uncertainty: A Virtual Summit for Educators
    Navigating Education in a Time of Uncertainty: A Virtual Summit for Educators
  • Virtual Summit for Educators: Navigating the Online Classroom & Beyond
    Virtual Summit for Educators: Navigating the Online Classroom & Beyond

About amy mascott

teacher, mother, dreamer. lover of literacy, fun learning, good food, and three crazy-cool kids. finder of four-leaf clovers | dc metro ยท http://about.me/amymascott
tweet with me: @teachmama

Previous Post: « teachmama’s holiday gift guide for kids and family 2012
Next Post: digital wellness: keeping your whole family tech-healthy »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Carolyn Wilhelm

    November 15, 2012 at 10:58 am

    Great! Your family is always learning! The pretzels could be used to make tallies that are so difficult for many children in the beginning of first grade, too. A wonderful idea for snack time at school as well as at home. Carolyn

    Reply
  2. PragmaticMom

    November 15, 2012 at 3:58 pm

    Love the idea of pretzel patterns! So fun and kids LOVE to play with their food! I can’t believe how easily you sneak math into snack time! Wonderful stuff! My kids would love this!

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Sidebar

our books & freebies

setting the stage for rock-star readers
raise a reader
amy mascott profile blog
subscribe teachmama

join the coolest club around:

Find Us On Social Media

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • Instagram
  • YouTube

Helpful Links

  • About
  • Contact
  • Press
  • Media Kit
  • Disclaimer
  • Terms of Use
  • Privacy Policy

Follow Us On Instagram

View
Open
Aaawwwhhhhh live this little Welcome Pack from @univofmaryland @umddining โ€” countdown is on! 

T-minus 8 days until our #1 hits campus!

#bts2022 #OldBay #marylandlife #universityofmaryland
View
Open
Super easy, homemade dog treats! 

Kids can helpโ€”they love the scraping into molds part!

Recipe below: 

ingredients 
1 egg
1 12.5 oz can chicken
1/4 cup chickpea (or tapioca) flour
1/4 cup whole wheat flour

instructions 
1. preheat oven to 350โ€ข

2. add all ingredients to blender and mix on high

3. pour into silicon molds

4. bake 10 min then switch trays to opposite oven racksโ€”our racks cannot fit two trays). bake for another 10-12 min or until treats pop easily out of molds. 

5. let cool on tray so they get a little more crispy. 

store in airtight container for up to a week!

#kidsinthekitchen #homemadedogtreats #pettreats #diydogtreats #dogtraining #familyfun
View
Open
Pop Up Shops for Musikfest!

New tees and tanksโ€”super cool and perfect for โ€˜festing!

@bethlum.shop is where itโ€™s at!
View
Open
happy saturday ๐Ÿš™
View
Open
Painted rocks are a lifesaver most days, arenโ€™t they?
View
Open
Hello, Teacher Wish List.

You are welcome here. In fact, we are incredibly glad that youโ€™ve made your way into our culture.

Youโ€™re like the Wedding Registry or Baby Registryโ€“but better. 

You are a dream because you are the list that gives and gives and gives. Youโ€™re not full of weird kitchen appliances or ugly China patterns or tiny baby Air Jordans. You are made of books, pens, pencils, journals, math manipulatives, bulletin board letters, lab goggles, staplers, and hole punchers.

You are helping to equip and educate the youth of the world and are taking a tiny bit of stress off of the shoulders of our educators. And we all know that our educatorsโ€“especially in the last few yearsโ€“have been stretched to the absolute max. They are tired, worn down, and stepped on. Theyโ€™re pushed and pulled every which way and are expected to do the job of 27 different people.

What an amazing thing you are, you little Classroom Wish List! Just a simple Amazon Wish List, you let us all feel like we are helping in a teeny way, and we thank you.

We hope you never, ever leave and that youโ€™re here to stay.

Sincerely,

Everyone

Want to help #ClearTheList ? 

Please visit: bit.ly/HELPclearthelist

#BTS2022 #HelpClearTheList #ISupportTeachers #TeachersRock #linkinbio
View
Open
TEACHERS! 

We appreciate you. 

We know that you have been spending your own money for AGES for your classroom and students, and we want to help. 

Hereโ€™s everything you need to know about creating your own Amazon Wish List: https://teachmama.com/help-teachers-clear-the-list/

Am I missing anything? Please let me know! 

#ClearTheList #CreateTeacherWishList #ClassroomWishList #AmazonWishList #BTS2022
View
Open
Friends, if you have an extra $5 or $10 that you could spare to help some amazing educators, we would be SO GRATEFUL.

Head on over to find out what I'm talking about and to learn how you can help.

And? If you're a teacher, add YOUR list to the mix so it gets more eyes (and more support!)

Check it out: https://teachmama.com/help-teachers-clear-the-list/

#ClearTheList #linkinbio #BTS2022 #ShareYourList #AmazonClearTheList
View
Open
nosotros votamos!

Find YOUR Gun Sense Candidates here: https://gunsensevoter.org/candidates/

#FirstTimeVoter #GunSenseVoter #AppleBallotVoter #yovotรฉ

Copyright © 2022 · teach mama media, llc · All Rights Reserved

  • 1
240 shares