Are you looking to make math fun? Try these Candy Corn math activities for kids to make their Fall and Halloween math practice fun and exciting!
Math concepts can be confusing for young kids to master, and they can easily become a chore that is full of frustration for early learners. Luckily there are a lot of ways to make learning math concepts fun!
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Every holiday has it’s signature candy and for Halloween that candy is Candy Corn! So let’s do some Halloween themed math using this fun candy treat! Below are 8 candy corn activities to get your kids excited about practicing math!
Candy Corn Math Activities for Preschoolers and Kindergartners
Estimating Candy Corn
I have fond memories of holiday parties back when I was in school where we had to guess how many candies were in a jar and if we were the closest we won the jar- it was a favorite game for the whole class!
You can recreate this guessing game using candy corn!
You can estimate all sorts of things using candy corn, such as:
- How many pieces are in my hand?
- How many pieces are in the entire package?
- How many pieces will fit in this small plastic pumpkin?
- How many pieces are in a paper pumpkin shape?
Get them to think hard and make reasonable guesses based on other knowledge they have. ie. If 10 pieces can fit in my hand, this tiny container has 45, then how many is in this large jar.
Candy Corn Counting with 1:1 Correspondence
Many kids can grasp counting at a fairly early age, but counting with one to one correspondence is a much more challenging concept. Let your kids practice counting objects instead of just counting aloud to help develop this important mathematical skill.
You can count just about anything- like candy corn!
You can do this very simply or make it more involved. At it’s simplest, just give them a bowls or pieces of paper marked with certain numbers. And let them count out candy corn pieces until each has the correct numbers. 1-10 is a good starting point, but going up to at least 20 is the goal.
If you want to get more involved you could cut out paper pumpkins labeled with numbers, or even jack-o-lanterns or monsters who need a specific number of teeth added!
Measuring with Candy Corn
How can you measure with candy corn? Well- before you get to inches, feet, centimetres, and meters, kids learn to measure in non-standard measurements– and that’s where candy corn comes in!
Let your child gather a few objects in various sizes- books, pencils, paper, toys, etc- and lay them out on your table.
Then give them a bowl of candy corn. Ask you child to estimate how long an object is. ie. How many candy corn pieces long is this pencil?
Then ask them lay pieces of candy corn end to end from one end of the object to the other and see how close their guess was!
You could even do this in pairs and have the kids measure how tall THEY are in candy corn.
Candy Corn Bingo Markers
Bingo is a great game for all sorts of skills! You can make bingo boards for math skills such as:
- Digit/Number identification
- Number Words
- Clocks
- Addition or Subtraction fact answers
And you can make these BINGO games even more fun by providing fun markers- like candy corn!
Maybe they can even eat the markers on their board when they win!
You can also use candy corn as markers for a Math Scavenger Hunt!
Candy Corn Game Pieces
You can also use candy corn as game board pieces for math facts.
I love simple games that are basically a circle with simple and controlled math facts. We have a set for teaching addition, subtraction, and multiplication facts that helps to make fact memorization so much more enjoyable!
Or you could use one like this Printable Dinosaur Addition Game.
Use candy corn pieces as your “people” in the games! Choose pieces that are different shapes or colors.
Greater Than or Less Than Candy Corn
Remembering which way the greater than and less than signs go can be hard!
I always remembered it by drawing a alligator mouth- the alligator loves to eat the bigger number! But candy corn is also a great way to help practice this skill!
Candy corn is shaped just like the triangular greater than or less than symbols!
Use magnetic numbers, flash cards, or dominoes for the numbers and use the candy corn pieces to tell which one is greater!
Candy Corn Adding and Subtracting
Learning to add and subtract doesn’t have to be hard. And it doesn’t have to be just boring flash cards. Get a head start on teaching your kids how to add and subtract by using candy corn to have a little fun!
You can print out addition mats or you can just make this a fun, hands on activity you do together.
Just grab a handful of candy corn and start asking questions:
- If you have 2 pieces of candy corn and I have 3, how many do we have together?
- If you 6 pieces of candy corn and I eat 3 of them, how many do you have left? (don’t forget to let them eat it!)
- If I have 2 pieces of candy corn, you have 3 pieces of candy corn, and your brother has 5 pieces of candy corn, how much do we have in all?
These questions help your child not only learn addition and subtraction facts but help with their reasoning skills.
Candy Corn Graphing
Candy corn can also be used to reinforce graphing skills.
First decide on what you will graph:
- People who like candy corn vs those who don’t
- If you have a mixed bag, pumpkins vs brown corn vs yellow corn
- Colors- some candy corn has no white or yellow on them, vs all 3 colors
You can also use it as a marker to graph other things, such as favorite season, holiday, Halloween candy, etc.
They create the graph using candy corn! Once you are done, don’t forget to ask questions about the results and what you discovered!
Don’t want to eat your candy corn after you use it for math? Make slime with it! Here’s how to make Candy Corn Slime!
More Fun Math Activities to Try
Alien Eyes Counting Activity for Preschoolers
Knockout- Dice Game to Learn Addition Facts
DIY Race Car Counting Game for Preschoolers
7 Candy Heart Math Activities for Kids
Or try these 7 Free Halloween Acrostic Poem Templates for a fun Halloween writing activity.
