Halloween Candy Math

One year for halloween, I dressed up as a sandwich. Yes you read that right. I was a bologna sandwich if we want to get really technical. To this day I'm not really sure who came up with the idea for me to be a sandwich...I'm almost certain it was my mischievous mother or father. For my father and me Halloween wasn't just a holiday, it was a sport. We measured score in buckets of candy. I have a sneaking suspicion my parents chose the costume for shock factor, knowing it would yield good results.

My amazing mother always made my costumes, so this particular year she crafted a sandwich costume that was pretty realistic. I looked so sandwhichy. I got SO MUCH CANDY.

Apparently when you dress up in a costume no one has ever seen before they give you fist fulls of candy. I would have one person come to the door, give me candy, then call their spouse to the door to look at my sandwichtastic costume and proceed to hand me more candy.

We had to stop back by the house to empty my bucket a few times. By the end of the night I had MOUNTAINS of candy in our living room.

I sorted the candy, counted the candy, weighed the candy and did everything short of rolling around in a kiddie pool filled with sugary treats. Sound familiar?

It is very likely that your child will come into some candy this month. If you find yourself with mountains of the stuff, don't miss the opportunity to use it for the good of learning! Check out the five ways you can encourage your child to sharpen their math skills with all that loot.

Sort it

Children in Pre-K through 1st grade will gain a lot of math skills by sorting candy. You can sort by color, size, shape, type and so much more. Once the candy is sorted you can encourage your child to line up to candy to make patterns and shapes. The possibilities are endless here! Don't be afraid to let your child run with their imagination on this one!

Count it

Children who are just learning to count will have lots of fun counting up how much candy they have. With younger kiddos help them count by moving pieces of candy one at a time from the big pile to a new location. One-to-one correspondence ( matching one member of a set to another member of a matching set ) is important when learning to count, so having candy to manipulate while counting is great practice.

Group it

Have your child group their candy by 2's, 5's, 10's or 20's. After they create the groups they can practice counting the candy by skip counting.

You can also encourage your child to practice division by grouping candy. If your child has 100 pieces of candy, have them divide by three (into three even groups) and then count how many pieces are in each group.

Chart it

If your child like to sort their candy by brand or type, you can encourage them to chart their findings. A simple bar chart with candy wrappers as the label for each bar can be a fun way to show findings.

Donate it

Want the candy out of your life? There are many organizations who accept Halloween candy that then pass it on to those who need a little sugar and cheer in their life. Research organizations with your child and make a decision on how much candy to donate. Some organizations that send candy to the troops also encourage children to write letters and cards to go with their sweet donation.

Has your child's math experience this year not been as sweet as you hoped? I would love to help your child get the help they need and deserve. Click here to set up your free online tutoring trial session.

Happy Learning!

Zoie