Cafeteria Math - Homeschool Style

I'm not a mama that does a lot of hands-on or crafting stuff in our normal school routine. So when the inspiration strikes, I usually go for it! Today was one of those days and the activity was met with great success. The boys LOVED it! I prepared everything while they were getting their late-morning outdoor romp and surprised them when they came in for lunch.

We've been practicing adding three addends together. Eli and Luke "get it" but it's always good to keep practicing! When the older boys were little I would set up a snack shop (pretzels, carrot sticks, mini marshmallows, chocolate chips, etc.) and they could purchase items for 1 cent, 2 cents, 5 cents, 10 cents, etc. One the note cards below, you'll see prices for foods. The blue prices are obviously for the older boys. Isaac's prices are in orange.

Making its debut appearance is cafeteria math - homeschool style. I'm still working on a catchy title. "Cafeteria Math: Yummy, Healthy, and Expensive!" or "Cafeteria Math: The Place to be Nickel and Dimed for Everything!" or "Cafeteria Math: Outrageous Price and Flavor!" (Can you hear me crackin' myself up?! Yes. I am a dork.)

When it was time to pay their bill, I got out my wad of hundreds...er...our Monopoly money for the paper money and real coins. After they added up their items (I had them add the cost of 3 items at a time), they had to give me the correct bills and coins. We also wrote out their total amounts in word form and filled out play checks. Luke's meal cost $1,826.29. Elijah's meal cost $1,148.40. Isaac's meal cost $0.28. He, he!

I totally rocked this one...he, he! Isaac handed me coins every time he went back for more. I think he was intentionally taking one thing at time so he could keep buying more! Sadie just loves eating...especially red peppers. Luke said it was tons of fun and asked to do it again. Elijah, while admitting that he enjoyed it, thought that next time I ought to price things "a little more sensibly..." Oh my, so characteristically them!!!