“How long is it until next Halloween?” While children undoubtedly would love Halloween to be an everyday occurrence, after costume changes, extra trips to school, parties, trick-or-treating and giving out candy, most parents are relieved when it is over! Once that big bowl of uneaten candy is way up high over the refrigerator, many moms and dads can feel overwhelmed by what to do with it all and how to make sure their child doesn’t over indulge. Here are some ways to “use” your candy as a teaching tool while also slow consumption while also having fun! Here are some ways your toddler or preschooler can learn from their candy:
Math
- Separate and sort candy by types (chocolate, lollipops, gummy bears, etc. If you have an abundance of candy you can do it by actual candy names… Snickers. Reeses, Milky Way, etc.)
- Count each category of candy and compare. Which is more, less or the same in amounts?
Science
- Use your 5 Senses to describe the candy? How does it look, smell, taste, feel and sound when you are eating it?
- Do an M&M experiment. Take a guess as to whether or not they’ll melt in your hands. Predict how many seconds it will take to melt them in your hands and test your predictions.
Art and Language
- Discuss and write down your findings from the M&Ms experiment in a couple of sentences.
- Using your imagination, think about what you could build out of candy. Use left-over candy to create that building or design and glue in place on a paper plate and…POOF…candy is all gone!
Most of all, enjoy your time together building and sharing ideas, having fun and making memories! Hope that you have a happy and a safe Halloween from your friends at Lightbridge Academy child care center!
