Thursday, October 31, 2013

What do we do with ALL THIS CANDY?!!?

We hope your Trick or Treating was as successful as ours!  And now you are asking...

"What do we do with ALL THIS CANDY!?!?!"

 Here are some simple, very quick lessons to do with your little learners...AND ALL THAT CANDY!  Best part of the lesson = Everyone gets to eat a few pieces while you play!

SORT IT! COUNT IT!
I decided to informally assess Nixon on his 1-to-1 correspondence by simply asking him to count out 10 lollipops (picture above)
Then we SORTED the Dum-Dum pops from the Tootsie Pops.
Best part = we both picked one to eat!

Other ways to SORT your candy:
*Chocolates vs. Non-chocolates*
*Like vs. Don't like*
*Big vs. Little packages*
*By color* (4 your littlest learner, add a piece of construction paper to help with color sort might help!)
*By shape*
*Hard vs. chewy*

TALLY MARK IT!
We have been working with Jackson on counting by 5's and skip counting.  And teaching this concept, using tally marks, seems to really work for little learners.  

First, I tally marked the first 10 suckers and he finished the last 4 tallys.

Then, we sorted out all the Starburst Mini-packs.
We tally marked the packages together. 
(I don't have a picture of that)

We opened all the packages to make a BIG pile of Starburst ready to eat and tally!


Success!  Fun and Learning were both accomplished!

Other ways to Learn with ALL THAT CANDY:

*Snack-size M&M or Skittles sort and graph*

*Family Estimation Jar*
Using a clear jar, dump the same kind of candy in and have every family member estimate "How Many?"  And the family member with the closest estimation, gets to keep the candy in the jar...BUT, they have to share a piece or 2, just to be nice.
Little Learners, more than likely, will not understand this concept yet.  But it's a fun way to introduce it.

*Candy Memory*
Sort out a few pairs of candies.  Hide them under small Dixie cups.  Mix the cups around them arrange them in rows.  Lift up 2 cups to see if you have a match.  If you do...keep it and EAT IT!

*Magic Candy*
(for your littlest learners)
Have your Little learner unstack the small Dixie cups (4-5) into a long row.  Hide a piece of candy under one of the cups.  Move the cups around (like a magician) and line them up in a new order.  Have your little learner find the candy...then EAT IT!

*Boo Bump*

*Sink or Float Predictions Science experiment with Candy*
Good way to get rid of the yucky ones!

*M&M Color Mixing*
Use the primary colors in the Snack-size M&M bags to create the secondary colors
Skittles can work too!

*Skittles and Straws*
Using Skittles (M&Ms, Smarties, Gobstoppers...) and a drinking straw...set the timer for 30 seconds.  Little learners have to use the straw to suck and transfer the candy from 1 plate to the other.  
Increase time, if they are have fun!
(Fine Motor skills)


Enjoy and Happy Learning!


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