Students who are learning measurements in math can have teachers or parents illustrate the importance of measurements by making cupcakes. Teachers or parents should explain that the cupcakes only come out tasty if the measurements are correct. They should then tell the children how to measure items for the cupcakes and work with the children to make the cupcakes. While working on measuring, teachers or parents can ask students questions like "How much is 2/3 cup times 2?" to illustrate how math is used in baking to double recipes.
To help children learn the basics of graphing, cupcakes are an ideal topic to bring in. Teachers can ask the class how many like cupcakes and then break it down into how many like chocolate, how many like vanilla and how many like strawberry. From there, the teacher should show the students a tally of the answers and then show a basic graph appropriate for the grade level and math skills.
For birthdays or special occasions, parents or teachers might make rainbow cupcakes with the children or students. Children can have fun mixing together different colored batters while parents or teachers help the children with the process of making the cupcakes. Rainbow cupcakes are made by first mixing white cupcake batter and then separating it and adding food coloring to make different colors. The cupcake trays are then filled with small amounts of the various colored batters until full. Avoid mixing the batter when it is in the tray, and bake it in the oven according to the cupcake directions. Parents or teachers can explain how rainbows form while the students or children work on mixing.
For the holidays, parents or teachers might make cupcakes for class celebrations. To make the cupcakes more interesting, parents or teachers can have the students draw up holiday designs, such as reindeer, Santa or snowflakes for the winter holidays or spider, pumpkins and black cats for Halloween. The designs are then voted on in class, with one or two being selected, and those are used for the frosting design. This turns the process into both an artistic endeavor and a treat for the holidays.