Activities at Home

Two-Raisinstick “Lunch”

No raisins in the house? Try cheese cubes instead.

What You Need:

Help with Opening PDF Files

What You and Your Child Will Do:

  1. Thread 1 raisin onto a toothpick to make a “raisinstick.” Then ask your child to make another raisinstick just like it.
  2. Now, have the child make two more raisinsticks, each with 2 raisins, and then another two raisinsticks, each with 3 raisins. Line up all six raisinsticks.
    3 sets of raisinsticks
  3. Say that you would like to have a lunch of 4 raisins and that your lunch must be made up of two raisinsticks. Tell your child to put two raisinsticks on the plate to show 4 raisins in all. (The child may show two raisinsticks of 2 raisins each, or one with 1 raisin and the other with 3 raisins.)
  4. Count aloud the number of raisins on the two raisinsticks to confirm that there are 4 in all. (Your child may notice that there are two possible ways to show the 4 raisins.)
  5. Now repeat the activity by asking for two-raisinstick lunches of 2, of 3, of 5, and then of 6 raisins.
  6. All possible two-raisinstick combinations can be drawn on the Two-Raisinstick “Lunch” Worksheet that follows.
    6 permutations of raisinstick combinations
  7. In addition to drawing the raisins, your child can record all the two-raisinstick combinations by writing these addition number sentences:

    1 + 1 = 2

    1 + 2 = 3

    2 + 2 = 4

    1 + 3 = 4

    2 + 3 = 5

    3 + 3 = 6