Dinosaur Nests - 2 plus C

Ioan is loving his dinosaur topic at school, so a lot of our activities will be dinosaur based over the next few weeks. Whilst making these dinosaur nests, there were lots of maths opportunities, with weighing out ingredients and working out different ways of making 12 cupcake cases. It was also another chance to use different equipment safely and confidently.

Resources

Chopping board
Child friendly knife
Weighing scales
Microwave
Mixing bowl
Wooden spoon
Cupcake cases
Cupcake tray

Ingredients

110g butter or margarine
125g Rice Krispies cereal (this seemed a lot so I would reduce this amount next time)
3 x Mars bars
Mini-eggs

Method

First they washed their hands, then carefully sliced the butter. Ioan did this beautifully, Finn also used the knife well… then in the time it took me to fetch the Mars bars from the cupboard, he had started modelling it like clay. We do a lot of messy play, so that’s probably what should I expect! He happily re-sliced it though.

Next they chopped up the Mars bars, put them in the bowl with the butter and both had a go turning the dial and pressing the buttons to work the microwave.

Ioan measured out the Rice Krispies.

They mixed the melted butter and Mars bars together, then Finn added the Rice Krispies to the mixture and they stirred them all together.

Next the boys worked out different ways they could make 12 cupcakes. Ioan was very happy to have thought of a different way of making 12 to Finn. Then they spooned their mixture into the cupcake cases and shaped them into nests and left them to cool.

They enjoyed eating one of the nests, then saved the rest for their dinosaur jelly rescue and edible dinosaur worlds.

DfES Early Learning Goals (2017)

Communication and language

ELG 02 – Understanding:

Children follow instructions involving several ideas or actions. They answer ‘how’ and ‘why’ questions about their experiences and in response to stories or events.

Physical development

ELG 04 – Moving and handling:

Children show good control and co-ordination in large and small movements. They handle equipment and tools effectively.

ELG 05 – Health and self-care:

Children know the importance for good health of physical exercise, and a healthy diet, and talk about ways to keep healthy and safe. They manage their own basic hygiene and personal needs successfully.

Mathematics

ELG 11 – Numbers:

Children count reliably with numbers from 1 to 20, place them in order and say which number is one more or one less than a given number. They solve problems, including doubling, halving and sharing.

ELG12 – Shape, space and measures:

Children use everyday language to talk about size, weight and capacity to compare quantities and objects and to solve problems. They recognise, create and describe patterns. They explore characteristics of everyday objects and shapes and use mathematical language to describe them.