This year I was finally prepared for the Halloween candy aftermath! I was up before dawn with my trusty Scotch Thermal Laminatorย and Scotch Thermal Laminating Pouchesย (these have been worth their weight in gold this year!)ย making Halloween candy math games and studying candy experiments. If we’re all going to be on a sugar high the day after Halloween – we may as well learning something while we are at it!
My quick work did not disappoint. All three children (ages 3-7) had a blast doing Halloween math games and Halloween candy experiments. It easily held their attention this morning and was completely adaptable to each of their grade levels.
First up was candy graphing with M&Ms and Skittles as pictured above. I used this 2 inch printable graphing paper from Classroom Jrย – perfect size for candy counting! And then I laminated those babies so that we can use them again next year! Before we started graphing with the M&Ms, we each guessed which color we would have the most of. The winner – orange! Interesting, huh?
After the graphing, we took a math break and did some candy science. We attended the BYU Chemistry Magic Show a few weeks ago and the kids loved it! (PS if you are in the Utah County area in October – you’ve got to attend!) I knew that doing our own candy experiment would be a hit.
I gave each child a small glass of water and instructed them to a put a skittle or M&M in the water. We then guessed what we thought would happen and eagerly watched to see if our guess was correct.
They correctly guessed that the color would come off of the candy, but they were so surprised when the letters, S & M, floated to the top. Definitely candy magic!
We also discovered that the skittle reacted much more quickly with the water than the M&M did.
And here’s another shot of the S floating to the top. Very cool when you are a five year old!
Next up was more laminated fun with M&Ms. I laminated these quick and easy math pages from the Mama Miss. Both my kindergartner and second grader had fun figuring out different ways to add to a certain number with their candy pieces.
Surprisingly, my kids didn’t gobble up all the candy. They were having too much fun doing the Halloween math games! I think having access to their candy in the morning and having fun with it helped to dull their immediate need to devour the entire bag like some years.
One aspect of this post-Halloween learning time that I loved was that my kindergartner began making up his own games. If you remember from my Halloween Pumpkin Learning Activities post, this boy loves to make patterns! Perfect way to use those M&Ms and Skittles again!
We had so much fun together this morning and I am thrilled to have them laminated for next year. I’m sure we will use them throughout the next week or so and then save them for next year (or the next time we have an influx of candy!)
What is your favorite Halloween candy?
How do you handle the Halloween candy in your house?
62 Comments
Robin (Masshole Mommy) · November 3, 2014 at 5:53 am
I am all for teaching my boys to work on their math skills. This is a great idea.
courtneyLynne · November 3, 2014 at 6:30 am
Omg this looks like an awesome way to use left over candy!!! My daughter isn2 and has a whole bucket of candy that will probably barely get touched so I should totally do this with her ๐
Trisha · November 3, 2014 at 6:41 am
These are all excellent suggestions! My daughter is a young preschooler so we’ve been counting and sorting her candy by color but your ideas would work great for my nephew who is just learning to graph in school.
amy @ commona-my house · November 3, 2014 at 7:18 am
What an awesome idea! Cab’t wait to do this with my kids today…and only keep half of the candy ๐
Alisha Kostiuk · November 3, 2014 at 7:35 am
These are great ideas. My son learned to count on MM’s. It sure helps them to pick up math skills quickly.
Amanda Love · November 3, 2014 at 8:39 am
What a great way to incorporate all the left over candy. I just took away the extra candy from the kids yesterday. No more candy for the rest of the year, or at least until Christmas.
Debbie Denny · November 3, 2014 at 8:54 am
Brilliant! Very smart ways to use excess candy. Looks like interesting fun.
Sydney @ Tastefully Frugal · November 3, 2014 at 9:56 am
These are great ideas!! I love the Skittle Experiments the best!
Claire · November 3, 2014 at 10:03 am
this is too clever! I’ll have to remember it when my baby girl is older!
Liz Mays · November 3, 2014 at 10:09 am
I used to help quiz the kids for tests and when they’d answer a question, they’d get to eat one of their M&M’s or Skittles. This brought it all back! They loved those little treats and it kept them going!
Alexandra McAllister · November 3, 2014 at 10:31 am
Brilliant!! This is an incredibly fun way to teach and learn math! I love it! Such a good use of left over candy. ๐
Shipra · November 3, 2014 at 10:56 am
LOVE the skittles experiment! Might have to show my son that one today itself!! <3 Great way to use up the candy without really eating them… ๐
Mama to 5 BLessings · November 3, 2014 at 11:28 am
What a fun way to learn, I am all over this being a homeschool mom. Looks like your son enjoyed it!
Nancy · November 3, 2014 at 11:46 am
Haha cute ideas. Don’t know if it’ll work on my future kids!
kristine foley · November 3, 2014 at 12:46 pm
Such great ideas that I’m sure my girl’s will have a blast doing. Thanks!
Joanna @ Motherhood and Merlot · November 3, 2014 at 1:00 pm
The candy experiments are a great idea! We do a “trade in” for books or something else:)
Angelic Sinova · November 3, 2014 at 2:36 pm
I LOVE this! I learned to subtract using gummy bears when I was little <3
Erica · November 3, 2014 at 2:50 pm
What great ideas! My little guy is still too little for all of this, but I will definitely keep these in mind, how fun!
Ruthy T. · November 3, 2014 at 3:23 pm
i’m actually eating halloween candy as i write this! lol
maria @ close to home · November 3, 2014 at 4:49 pm
I need to bring these ideas to my preschool enrichment class. what a cute idea.
karissa · November 3, 2014 at 5:59 pm
What a great idea, I really need a laminator.
Pauline Cabrera · November 3, 2014 at 7:17 pm
Learning can be so much fun for kids when you approach them this way.
Alecia @ Chicken Scratch NY · November 3, 2014 at 7:17 pm
The floating S is so weird! It’s great that they had so much fun they forgot to eat the candy!
Shauna · November 3, 2014 at 7:50 pm
Oh my goodness, this is so funny, but years ago I was struggling with math. I mean; in tears. Then my Step-Mom got a bag of M&M’s out and totally helped me see the equations. Really helped me.
Tanya Coffman · November 3, 2014 at 8:24 pm
Thanks for the great ideas of candy use ๐
Elizabeth O · November 3, 2014 at 8:28 pm
Utterly clever ways to make use of the candies!
Lois Alter Mark · November 3, 2014 at 8:31 pm
Those are such great ideas! Now that our nest is empty, our leftover Halloween candy has pretty much all been eaten!
Kimberly Bergeron · November 3, 2014 at 8:35 pm
Great ideas. I sent this to my homeschooling friends.
Chrissy · November 3, 2014 at 8:45 pm
These are such great ideas!! I will definitely be playing these games with my own kiddos this week!
Jessica Blankenship · November 3, 2014 at 9:05 pm
Those are all amazing ideas, but I love the science skittles experiment the best! Thank you! and pinned!
Lindsay · November 3, 2014 at 9:23 pm
I LOVE this!! This is something that I will do when I have kids ๐
estherjulee · November 4, 2014 at 1:54 am
i love skittles.. and these photos are making me crave it now haha. that’s great that you found great uses for the candy other than eating them all.. and they can learn something new in a fun way. ๐
Cape Cod Mom Blog · November 4, 2014 at 3:54 am
This i such a creative way to incorporate learning with the sugar rush of this holiday! We actually do math games with m&m’s all the time and my preschooler loves it…though he wants to eat one and do a lot of subtracting ๐
Rebekah · November 4, 2014 at 6:27 am
These are great ideas. I’ll have to see what we have leftover. The kids have been sneaking candy left and right!
Kathleen · November 4, 2014 at 7:09 am
We are a homeschooling family, and these ideas definitely seem like the way to go. The problem is, my boys mostly ended up with chocolate, wonder if it could work with them.
Haleigh DeRocher · November 4, 2014 at 7:36 am
These are great ideas! My husband is a math teacher, so he will definitely appreciate them! I’ll have to remember this for when we have little ones of our own.
Candace · November 4, 2014 at 7:38 am
This is so adorable! I love when parents can make learning fun with out technology!
Debi · November 4, 2014 at 8:05 am
This is great. I love the idea of using the candies to get the kids excited.
Alycia · November 4, 2014 at 8:24 am
So fun. Thanks for sharing!
Brenda · November 4, 2014 at 8:57 am
Aw, this is such a cute idea for teaching kids math! Thanks for sharing!
Rebekah · November 4, 2014 at 9:17 am
This is a great idea! Definitely going to give it a try with my son!
Kristin · November 4, 2014 at 10:35 am
A much better use for candy than eating it. Haha!
Jessica Doll · November 4, 2014 at 10:36 am
These are all such great ideas. I think my boys would love the skittle science one.
Amby Felix · November 4, 2014 at 11:30 am
These are very clever ideas! I used to do this sort of thing when my kids were at this age!
Amy Desrosiers · November 4, 2014 at 11:31 am
What great ideas! I find kids are more receptive to learning when they can count edibles!
Debbie L. · November 4, 2014 at 11:51 am
Great idea. I like to make learning fun. I wills tart this with Davey
breanna · November 4, 2014 at 12:59 pm
This is an great share! Perfect for my K & 1st grader. Must try (:
Jess · November 4, 2014 at 1:31 pm
This is such a good idea! I’ll have to share it with my sister!
Jessica Beal Harlow · November 4, 2014 at 1:36 pm
Mathematics are the weakness in this house! So, I’m always looking for new, fun ways to practice math skills at home! Using Halloween candy is a great idea…my favorite is KitKats!
Janeane Davis · November 4, 2014 at 2:28 pm
It is a good idea to use leftover holiday candy for school lessons. It will certainly keep the kids’ attention.
Christy Hoover · November 4, 2014 at 4:44 pm
This is a perfect game for me and the kiddos to do. Only thing is I may sneak in a skittle or two lol
Camesha | Mama Motivator · November 4, 2014 at 9:13 pm
I am SO doing this Skittle science experiment. My son will love that.
Elizabeth Towns · November 5, 2014 at 12:20 pm
We always need a way to use up Halloween candy – nobody ever eats very much of it around here. I think the excitement is in getting it. Maybe I can donate some of it to my sons classroom along with the math ideas!
Michelle · November 5, 2014 at 3:57 pm
Okay, that’s just awesome. What a great idea for incorporating the reward into the work! You rock. ๐
lauriel · November 5, 2014 at 10:17 pm
Wow, that’s super-cool about the candy dissolving process and the separation of the printed letters. Will have to try it some time! Great idea to combine the sweets and learning, I love the idea. ๐
xo,
lauriel
EyeForElegance.com
Lana · November 7, 2014 at 9:19 pm
What a great way to teach your kids!
Joanna Sormunen · November 9, 2014 at 9:39 pm
What a cool way to use the Halloween candy and make the learning a fun filled experience. We all need that from time to time!
Debbie L. · November 30, 2014 at 5:17 am
The candy experiments are really fun. I think Davey would really like trying these out – I am always looking for ways to learn while having fun.
Anne · November 30, 2014 at 2:07 pm
Fun experiments! We have tried the candy in water one with different temperature water too, and predicted which will dissolve the coating the fastest.
Amethyst Moon · November 30, 2014 at 8:42 pm
This is such a great idea. What a great way to make science and math fun.
Joanne · December 1, 2014 at 7:50 am
These are such great ideas for any time of year. I’m going to pass this along to moms in my homeschooling group.
Giveaways 4 Mom · December 1, 2014 at 8:26 am
These are all great ideas. I love incorporating education as much as I can. I will definitely keep these ideas in mind for my boys.