Invite your child to measure out ingredients, count plates and utensils for the whole family, name shapes of cooking tools, and guess how much food will fit on a plate.

A trip to the grocery store is a great time to practice sorting, money or fractions! Younger children can count out items such as apples or sort fruits and vegetables by colors into different bags. For older children, pick an item from the shelf and together figure out what combinations of coins and bills you could use to make that amount. 

For younger children, play “I spy” to find shapes. Use guiding questions such as “I spy bricks that have a rectangle shape. They all have straight lines and they have 4 sides. Can you find other rectangles”? Challenge older children to find more advanced geometric shapes and elements such as parallel lines, perpendicular lines, and angles (i.e. street signs). 

Doing laundry? Putting away dishes? Cleaning up toys? Engage your kids in sorting by size, color, or pattern. If you're using laundry, let them help separate clothes into light and dark piles. If you're cleaning dishes, have them sort silverware into groups. With toys, have them group them by size or function.