Candy Learning Activities

This year Halloween was cold and wet!  The kids wound up with tons of candy, though.  (I think the weather made people extra generous.)  Instead of letting all that candy go to waste (or eating it all at once), I’m planning a homeschool unit full of learning activities using candy.

Over the past years, we have a few simple candy learning activities, from M&M math activities like patterns and sorting, to some science with dissolving candy hearts.  

This time around I’ve collected ideas to fill several days full of some sweet learning fun!

Candy Math:

• Sorting:  We will start by sorting the candy by type.
• Counting:  Once the candy is sorted, will will count each type.  And to really stretch those minds, we may try counting every piece in the bucket!
• Patterns:  Little bags of colorful M&M’s and Skittles are great for working on making patterns.
• Adding:  Those little candies are also great manipulatives for working on addition problems.
• Subtracting:  You know what’s more fun than adding candy?  Subtracting it!  (Eating the pieces as you go, of course.)
• Comparing:  We can’t forget comparing!  We will be working on using our “more than” and “less than” symbols as we compare amounts of Halloween candy.

Candy Science:

• Kids love figuring out what will sink and float.  This Sink and Float Candy Experiment is definitely on our list!
• I have been wanting to try this Skittles Density Rainbow experiment since last Halloween.
• And, speaking of Skittles, we will be doing this simple Skittles Experiment early in our week.
• After our earlier coffee filter chromatography experiment, I’m looking forward to this Candy Chromaography.
• Finally, we loved our mad scientist lab, so I know making candy potions will be a huge hit!

Candy Reading Activities:

• I was already planning on pulling out the Candy Land game.  I love this idea for a fun sight word game!
• We will also pull out our CVC word tic-tac-toe game, using candy pieces to mark the spaces.
• And since we are working on alphabetical order, we will choose a few types of candy to put in ABC order.

Candy Writing Activities:

• Write an opinion piece.  What child can resist a little candy taste-test?  Once the tasting is finished, we’ll be writing about what candy is the best and why.

Candy Art:

• We will be trying our very own painting with candy this week.
• If we have enough Nerds, I’m hoping to try these beautiful Candy Water Color Trees, perfect for fall!

Once we are finished with our unit, the leftover chocolate pieces will go up into the freezer to dole out on special occasions.  Daddy will get to take some to share at work, and we will use some of the candy to decorate gingerbread houses later this year.

What do you do with all that leftover candy?  I’d love to hear about it in the comments!