Snack Subtraction
Here's What To Do
1
Put 5 small pieces of food (like cereal) on a plate and count them for your child (point as you count).
2
Ask your child to remove 1 piece. Count how many are left on the plate now. (optional: they can eat the snacks they take away!)
3
Repeat, until you have 0 snacks.
Put PEER Into Action
P
Pause:
- Do a silly snack subtraction dance!
E
Engage:
- "When you take away one snack, does the amount of snacks get bigger or smaller?"
- "5 take away 1 is 4!"
E
Encourage:
- Acknowledge their effort: "You're working so hard to practice subtraction."
- If your child doesn’t seem to understand, demonstrate by taking the lead first
R
Reflect:
- "Do you think we can practice snack subtraction at our next meal?"
Not quite ready?
Start with just three pieces of food, and lead the activity yourself.
Ready for more?
Ask your child to count the snacks by themself as you subtract.
As your child masters this skill...
They will understand that the total gets smaller when you remove an object from a group.