Food is even more fun when it’s shaped like a cute animal. Chef John Mitzewich turned an apple into a swan, with feathery wings, a long neck, and even tiny apple-peel eyes. In this video, he cuts a chunk of the apple into lots of L-shaped wedges, and slides each L back a little to make a wing. Other leftover pieces becomes the head and neck. We made one at Bedtime Math — and if you find a grown-up to help, you can make your own snacktastic swan!
Wee ones: If you start with 5 apples but then eat 1 of them, how many neat, clean apples are left to turn into swans?
Little kids: Each swan wing has 4 L-shaped pieces. How many wing pieces does 1 swan have in total? Bonus: If you count down from 8 as you eat each wing piece, what numbers do you say?
Big kids: If you get faster and better at making these swans, and the first takes 40 minutes, the next takes 37, the third takes 34…how fast do you make the next one to keep the pattern? Bonus: If you make 27 swans from red apples and yellow apples, and end up with twice as many red as yellow, how many of each color do you have?
Answers:
Wee ones: 4 apples.
Little kids: 8 wing pieces. Bonus: 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.
Big kids: 31 minutes. Bonus: 18 red swans and 9 yellow. Every 2 red and a yellow makes a set of 3, and there are 9 of those sets in 27.
