Calculators are easily found today. Most cell phones have them actually. Who needs to count or do math on their own? Hopefully you’re little one. Why not make the experience a fun – and of course tasty – one?
TheHokeyPokeyKitchen.com has created the solution in this fun, edible food activity by creating an edible abacus.
Also called a counting frame, an abacus is used for arithmetic. More often used in Asia, abaci are often constructed with a bamboo frame with beads sliding on wires. Originally, beans and stones were used in groves in sand or tablets of wood, stone or metal. The abacus was used centuries before written number systems were adopted – and well before calculators were kept in the same machine used to text, tweet and make phone calls.
Around the world this tool is still used in preschools and elementary schools as a teaching aid in the numeral system.
The Greek abacus was a table of wood or marble, pre-set with small counters in wood or metal for mathematical calculations. The normal method of calculation in ancient Rome, as in Greece, was by moving counters on a smooth table. Originally pebbles were used.
Around the 5th century, Indian clerks were already finding new ways of recording the contents of the Abacus.
In Japanese, the abacus is called soroban, imported from China around 1600. The 1/4 abacus, which is suited to decimal calculation, appeared circa 1930, and became widespread as the Japanese abandoned hexadecimal weight calculation which was still common in China.
As a simple, cheap and reliable device, the Russian abacus was in use in all shops and markets throughout the former Soviet Union, and the usage of it was taught in most schools until the 1990s. And today, you can make your own with tasty treats.
Ingredients
One long French baguette
Blueberries
Red grapes
String cheese
Honeydew
Cantaloupe
(Or your favorite fruits and veggies. Make sure everything is washed before getting started)
Five skewers, wooden or metal
Directions
1. Take the baguette and cut it into three equal pieces. Use the middle piece for the base and the other two as sides for support.
2. String the fruit and cheese, cut into 10 small pieces, onto the skewers.
3. Place the skewers between two of the pieces of bread
Make sure to snack on the extra ingredients. Creating a helpful math tool can make you work up an appetite.
Chef Gigi Gaggero 
Love this I’m so doing it with Keoni 🙂
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