Baking Biscuits | NZ Maths

The purpose of this activity is to help your child develop the relationship between adding and multiplying.

If you are making biscuits it is likely that you will arrange the biscuits in rows on a baking tray.

biscuits.

How many biscuits are there? There are several different ways to count the biscuits. Explore these with your child.

Do you need to count all the biscuits to know how many there are?
What groups can you see on the tray? There are groups of 3 and groups of 4 in the example shown.
How many groups of three are there? How could we add them up?
Your child may have a variety of different ways to work this out. Ask them to see how many ways they can use. They may:
- count in ones: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12
- count in threes: 3, 6, 9, 12
- know that three and three is six and six and six is twelve
- know that four groups of three is twelve altogether
How many groups of four are there? How could we add them up? Ask your child about the different ways they could count the groups of 4.

Other things to think about and explore:

How many people are in your family, and how many biscuits will they each get? Explore different ways of working this out. You could draw a picture, share the biscuits into piles or think about the numbers involved and record your thinking in an equation.
If you made double the recipe how many biscuits would you make? How many would each member of your family get then?
If you iced them and used smarties for eyes how smarties would you need?
If you iced them and stuck two together how many biscuits would you have then?

E hia katoa ngā pihikete? (How many biscuits are there altogether?)
Me tatau rānei ngā pihikete katoa kia mōhio ai koe ki te maha o ngā pihikete? (Should all of the biscuits be counted to know how many there are?)
Kaua e tatau i ngā pihikete katoa. Me pēhea koe e whiriwhiri ai i te maha o ngā pihikete? (Don’t count all of the biscuits. How can you work out the number of buscuits?)
He aha ngā rōpū e kitea mai ana i te rārangi o ngā pihikete i te paepae? (What groups can be seen in the arrangement of biscuits on the tray?)
E hia ngā rōpū o te toru? Me pēhea te tāpiri i ngā rōpū o te toru?(How many groups of three are there? How can the groups of three be added together?)
Tatau ā-tahi i ngā pihikete: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12
Tatauria ia rōpū o te toru: 3, 6, 9, 12
Tāpirihia te toru me te toru, ka ono. Tāpirihia te ono me te ono, ka tekau mā rua. (Add 3 and 3 to get 6. Add 6 and 6 to get 12.)
E whā ngā ropū o te toru, ka tekau mā rua. (Four groups of three make twelve.)
E hia ngā rōpū o te whā? Me pēhea te tāpiri i ngā rōpū o te whā?(How many groups of four are there? How can the groups of four be added together?)
Mēnā ka rearuatia te tohutaka, e hia katoa ngā pihikete? (If you double the recipe, how many biscuits would there be?)
Mēnā ka whakapiria atu he rare hei karu mō ngā pihikete, kia hia katoa ngā rare? (If you put lollies on the biscuits for eyes, how many lollies altogether?

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