Cooking Activity: Burrito Bowls

Make a flavorful burrito bowl to practice sorting, spatial sense, and measurement. Join "Cooking Counts" chefs Patty Rodriguez and Oliver as they explore early math concepts like discovering shapes, counting ingredients and using spatial vocabulary.

Find this and other recipes and fun music videos on our YouTube channel @FamilyMathKids.

Learning Objectives

Practice sorting, spatial sense, and measurement.

What You'll Need

*Makes 3 servings

• 1 can low-sodium beans
• 1 package pre-cooked rice
• ½ chopped onion
• 1 tbs olive oil
• Salt and spices like: pepper, garlic powder and cumin
• Toppings like: avocado, shredded cheese and salsa

Steps

• Sort the ingredients. The ones that need chopping on the left. The ones that don’t go on the right.
• Chop onions into squares.
• Sautee the onion in olive oil until soft.

* Talk together: “How is the onion changing? Is the color different?”

• Add beans to the onion and season with salt and desired spices. Mix until spices are combined and beans simmer.

* “Let’s count how many shakes of each spice.”

• Remove from fire and mash the beans until desired consistency.
• Assemble bowls with ½ cup of rice, ½ cup of beans, toppings.

Talk Together

You can playfully build your child’s skills for sorting objects based on attributes like color, shape and size. In the kitchen, try saying:

• “Let’s sort the red container lids from the blue lids.”
• “Do all the orange fruits and veggies fit in the basket?”
• “Find cans around the pantry! Who found the most cans? Who found the smallest can?”

Fun Fact

The tallest bean plant ever measured over 46 feet.