‘Snap, Crackle, Math:’ Purdue early learning researchers pour over number activities on cereal boxes

Sarah Eason, assistant professor in the Purdue University Department of Human Development and Family Science, and Salvador Vazquez, a post-doctoral researcher in the department, examined hundreds of cereal boxes to see what kind of math activities were printed on them. The researchers say such number activities on the backs of cereal boxes are still a valuable way to get math in front of preschool kids.(Tim Brouk)

Written by: Tim Brouk, tbrouk@purdue.edu

Researchers in the Purdue University Department of Human Development and Family Science (HDFS) want young children to go cuckoo for mathematics.

Postdoctoral researcher Salvador R. Vazquez and assistant professor Sarah Eason examined how many cereal boxes in the aisles of major grocery chains contained math activities. They then coded what kind of math was being printed on the boxes. While online videos, storybooks and educational toys have been studied by early math researchers in HDFS and elsewhere, Vazquez and Eason concentrated on moments at the breakfast table that can elicit early learning opportunities with the backs of classic, often colorful cereal boxes. But how many cereals even offer such activities today?

Vazquez said the idea to see if today’s cereal boxes take on mathematics came to him over a bowl of Cinnamon Toast Crunch. Yes, iPads loaded with kid-friendly streaming services and apps are valuable tools to a child’s preschool education, but moments like figuring out math problems on a box of Honey Nut Cheerios could still be a valuable, educational opportunity for the child, ideally with a parent or caregiver’s assistance.

“Really the goal, ultimately, is to get these activities in front of children to see how they engage with them and then perhaps use that as a way to format new types of activities that could theoretically be placed on boxes to encourage better dialog and communication around math,” Vazquez said. “Even if there is a child that’s not familiar with math and numbers on the box, they’re staring at the box while they’re eating and being exposed to it. These are opportunities where they can begin engaging with math.”

Vazquez and an undergraduate research assistant scoured the cereal aisles at a West Lafayette Walmart, Pay Less, Fresh Thyme and Meijer store as well as a Super Target in Lafayette. In all, they took pictures of the backs of 800 boxes. The researchers plan on examining between 250 and 300 unique cereal boxes. The study could inform companies to consider mathematical activities on their boxes for children to become comfortable with math concepts at an early age, thereby becoming better at math as they grow older.

Criteria and results so far

This math activity on the back of a box of Honey Nut Cheerios would be for older children because the highest number is 50.(Tim Brouk)

Vazquez and Eason decided to use every box available for the study. This included colorful, child-centered cereals like Froot Loops and Fruity Pebbles as well as more adult-focused cereals like dietary specific cereals for keto dieters and even cereals that are marketed to help the consumer sleep. Also counted were the many varieties of a flagship cereal. For example, Cheerios has 21 cereals on the market: Frosted, Cinnamon, Chocolate Peanut Butter, Apple Cinnamon and Chocolate Strawberry, just to name a few. Also included were generic Walmart, Meijer, Kroger (Pay Less) and Target cereals that mimic popular brands. Vazquez discovered that store brands sometimes offered more educational opportunities in their packaging than their Kellogg’s counterparts.

The marketing of the cereal was also coded. The researchers broke the boxes down to three groups: The boxes were aimed at children, families for parents to purchase or adults. The “family” category kept the caretaker in mind with marketing language such as health benefits of the cereal but also had colorful imagery that would appeal to children. Honey Nut Cheerios, featuring cartoon mascot Buzz the bee, was marketed towards children yet other varieties of Cheerios, like their Oat Crunch varieties, also touted health benefits, while still having child-appropriate math and reading-based activities on the back cover.

“What we found was that 54% of the first 174 boxes were being marketed toward children and families, which are the audiences we are interested in,” Vazquez revealed. “And of those, it was usually the sweeter varieties that had the activities on the back. The regular Cheerios would usually have the same design on both front and back covers.”

Yet out of those dozens of boxes, only 14% had math activities on the boxes and 10% overall were aimed at children. Most of the activities dealt with numbers 1-9 — a range that is developmentally appropriate for preschool aged children, the age range Vazquez and Eason study. Some went to 20 and only a few went higher than 20. Activities included child-friendly word problems, counting exercises and number identification.

Almost all the Great Value cereals, the Walmart generic brand, had activities, including math activities. Meijer’s generic cereals all had activities on them, but nearly all the activities were the same on every box.

More cereal boxes had child-friendly, educational activities like word search games, differences in shapes and mazes. These are features that are still being analyzed to assess how “spatial skills” activities for preschool children are represented in cereal box activities and will be included in the present study.

Mathematically delicious

Vazquez admitted feeling a little odd taking pictures of cereal boxes at 6 a.m. at Walmart back in December 2023, but spooning up the data has been an interesting experience for the young researcher.

“Not a single person asked me what I was doing as I took a photo of every box on the aisle,” Vazquez laughed.

To him, cereal boxes are an example of “environmental math,” an adaption of the term “environmental print,” which early educators use for words and letters that young children encounter in their day-to-day lives. Exposure to environmental print is valuable for children’s literacy development, and Vazquez suspects numbers in the environment may hold similar opportunities for math.

“They’re being exposed to (math) in short increments,” Vazquez said. “Every morning while they’re eating, it just becomes a part of their routine, and a sense of familiarity may develop. ‘There are numbers in my life. They’re everywhere.’”

Over the last several months, Vazquez and Eason developed suggestions to improve the math activities they found on the boxes. The main switch would be designing the activities to invite family members to engage along with children. Caretakers should get involved as the young child navigates the math activities.

“Instructions could encourage the caregiver and a child to take turns doing a part of the activity or create an activity where the child plays one role and the caretaker plays another,” Vazquez explained. “That might actually increase opportunities for dialog about what’s on the boxes.”

Eason agreed that mathematical educational moments even at the breakfast table should be encouraged.

“We know families are busy and one thing I’ve learned in talking to families for years is that they want to incorporate math into things that they’re already doing. I loved the idea of looking at cereal boxes as a way to think about the math already in environments that family engage with,” she said. “It’s like a bite-size, spoonful of math.”