Double Up!

• Ask the children to stand in a circle. Tell them that you will be talking about size and quantity.
• Ask them to make themselves as tall as possible by reaching to the sky, then ask them to make themselves as short as possible by crouching down to the ground.
• Show the inspiration photo of two sandwiches side by side.
• Ask: Which is taller? Which is shorter? How can you tell?
• Ask the children to count and compare the number of bricks in each sandwich.
• Point out that the taller sandwich contains more bricks or “ingredients.”

• Tell the children that they are going to help build menu items with double the regular ingredients.
• Explain that “doubling” means adding the same number of bricks to what they currently have, meaning that their menu items will be twice as big!
• Hand out an in-box recipe card to each child or pair of children.
  • Note: the orange sandwich and birthday cake are on different sides of the same card, so two children will have to share the card, or you will have to make a copy of one side.
• Ask the children to build their menu items by following the recipe card.

See in-box recipe cards

• Once the children have completed their menu items, hand out the printable model card that matches each child/pair’s recipe card. These contain the menu items with double the ingredients the children used originally.
  • Note: The sandwiches have double the fillings, but not double the “bread” bricks. When building the doubled version of the birthday cake and the pastry at the
    same time, you will have to substitute the bright yellow 2X2 bricks for the pale yellow 2X2 bricks in the birthday cake.
• Ask the children to build their menu items again, this time using the doubled up recipe.
  • Note: The bricks used to make the original menu item will be needed to build the doubled up version.
• Once the children have finished building, ask them to share their models with the others and talk about how many ingredients they used for each version.

• Facilitate a discussion about the two different recipes the children used.

• Consider asking questions like:

  • How many bricks did you use in the first recipe? How many in the second?
  • Which recipe contains more ingredients? How can you tell?

• Encourage the children to make comparisons. Have them look at the in-box recipe cards and the printable model cards side by side.

• Ask questions like:

  • Which item is bigger?
  • Which is taller?
  • Which is wider?

• Explain that double the amount of ingredients can sometimes mean double the price.
• Ask the children to help you count enough coin bricks for the following scenarios by starting with the original number of coin bricks in a row and then placing an additional coin brick next to each one:
  • The flatbread sandwich costs one coin. The doubled up flatbread sandwich costs twice as much. How many coins does it cost?
  • The yellow pastry costs two coins. How much should the doubled up yellow pastry cost?
  • The regular birthday cake costs three coins. How much should the doubled up birthday cake cost?

Observing the following skills can help you monitor whether the children are developing the necessary competencies in math.

• Using mathematical terms, such as positional language, number names, etc.
• Counting using number names, and beginning to recognize the number of objects in a set
• Comparing two or more objects
• Exploring simple operations, such as adding