Lego Pizza Combination Math Activity

Legos are an amazing tool for children.  In this fun activity children get to create pizzas.

Yours will be a little different.

     Here is what you will need:
               "the crust"
                   - 15 paper plates (Shhhhhh...this is the answer, so just keep them stacked for now!)
          1 handful of each of these small Legos:
               "the meats"
                   - red (pepperoni)
                   - brown (sausage)
                   - gray (anchovies)
               "the vegetables"
                   - black (black olives)
                   - green (green olives)
                    -white (onions)

Now that you have your supplies, let's get started!  Grab the aprons, and if you don't have any, pin a towel around each child's waist.
At a table, explain that you are going to talk about combinations.  With pizzas, how many combinations of 2-topping pizzas can be made with six ingredients?  Let's find out!

When figuring combinations, remember that order does not matter.
The formula is:
                            nCr = ___n!___  =  _P(n,r)_
                                       (n-r) !r!            r!
Check your scientific calculator for directions on how to input this information correctly.
This activity will be hands-on, rather than paper and pencil.

Have your "ingredients" in bowls on the table.
Let the children decide what the first pizza will be, remember each pizza will get 2 toppings-no more, no less. 
Create one pizza at a time, using two ingredients for each.  Place a few (about 5) Lego toppings on the plate.
When the children are finished creating pizzas, there will be 15 different ways to make a 2 topping pizza from the Lego "ingredients".

Guide students as they work.  It may be best to start with one meat and complete all of those possible combinations, then move on to the next meat, then to vegetables.  Be careful not to repeat any of the combinations.

Here is a guide to check your results:
p = peperoni          bo = black olives
s = sausage            go = green olives
a = anchovies         o = onions

p, s          s, a          a, bo          bo, go          go, o
p, a          s, bo        a, go          bo, o
p, bo        s, go        a, o
p, go        s, o
p, o

All this talk of pizza may make you hungry for the real thing.  Here is my easy way to make a home-made pizza...not completely from scratch, but oh so good!

Ingredients for 1 pizza:
     1 Betty Crocker pizza crust mix
     1/2 cup corn meal
     5/8 cup hot tap water (=1/2 +1/8 cups)
     1/2 jar pizza sauce (pour the other 1/2 in a freezer bag, then in the freezer for your next pizza)
     1 cup sliced mushrooms (canned or fresh)
     1 cup sliced turkey peperoni (about 1/2 of a package)
     2 cups mozzarella cheese
Directions:
     Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Mix crust mix, corn meal, and water together and set aside for 5 minutes.  Meanwhile grease a pizza pan and assemble ingredients.   Spread pizza crust with finger tips-this is a bit tedious, so start in the middle and continue to work out to the edge of the pan.  I like to use a greased pastry roller instead.  Then spread sauce to edge of crust.  Add your mushrooms and peperoni.  Top with cheese and bake for about 15-17 minutes at 400 degrees in the middle of the oven.

    My favorite way to change this is to add 1 Tablespoon Italian seasoning to the crust mixture, saute a package of sliced, fresh mushrooms with a large, sliced onion and a tablespoon of olive oil over medium-low heat until tender, then change the cheese to an Italian blend.  Otherwise keep everything the same as above.  Experiment with the ingredients; see what you and your family likes best.
    

Proportional Reasoning-Cooking Fun

Math and cooking go hand-in-hand...well, math is everywhere.  Let's have some fun making something to eat.  All the while, we will be learning about proportions.  What would cookies taste like if you put 1 cup of salt in instead of 1 teaspoon?  YUCK!  How about pancakes with 3 cups of sugar instead of 3 tablespoons?  Some kids might like that, but most people would think those pancakes would be too sweet.
*How much of one thing compared to another is proportion.  In preparing foods, it is very important to have the correct proportion of the ingredients being used.  Below is a recipe with proper proportions and alternate recipe to change the proportions and still have the cookies taste good.

Here we go!  We are going to make "No-Bake Oatmeal Cookies".   The original recipe came from my grandmother, who lived through the depression.

Mix these ingredients in a large sauce pan:
2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup milk
1/4 c. butter
Bring just to a boil and remove from heat.

In a mixing bowl combine:
3 cups dry oatmeal
1/2 cup coconut
3 tablespoons cocoa
1 cup chocolate chips

Add oatmeal mixture to sugar mixture and stir quickly.  Drop by rounded teaspoons onto wax paper.  Let cool and eat.

Let's change some proportions in this recipe.

What about butterscotch chips instead of chocolate?
     Keeping the proportions the same as they were, how many butterscotch chips should we use?

1 cup  That is correct!  We used one cup of chocolate chips in the original recipe, so if we are keeping the proportion the same then we still need one cup.

What if we don't want any coconut?  Can we just take it out?

No.  The mixture would be too runny and make a mess when we try to scoop it onto the wax paper.

What could we add more of to replace the coconut?

I was thinking oatmeal.  Is that what you were thinking?

Hmmm...how about making the cookie more caramel flavored?  To do that we can change half of the granulated sugar to brown sugar.  Our original recipe calls for 2 cups of granulated sugar.  How much of that should we change to brown sugar?

1 cup.  That's right!

Alright, now you found out that you will be having company.  You want to make more than you did for the last batch of cookies.  When you check your oatmeal, you find that you only have 4 1/2 cups of oatmeal left.  If you want to keep the proportions the same as the original recipe, how much of the other ingredients would you need?

3 cups of sugar

3/4 cup milk

3/8 cup butter

4 1/2 cups oatmeal

3/4 cup coconut

3 tablespoons cocoa

1 cup chocolate chips

Proportions are fun!  Enjoy eating your correctly proportioned cookies!
For additional math recipes check out this website:  Cooking with children kindergarten-12 grade