Halloween Math Idea: Make a CANDY Bar Graph!

Here's another idea from last year that was a lot of fun (and a sneaky way to reinforce those math skills):

When I was a kid, I loved sorting through my stash of Halloween candy after a night of trick-or-treating. I'd count out all of my Snickers, Crunches, lollipops, etc...and then try to hide my bucket in my bedroom so I could dip into anytime I wanted to. Oh, that sweet tooth of mine. Must be in the DNA because now those childhood traditions have been passed on to my kids. Sure enough, as soon as we walked in from our Trunk-or-Treat on Weds. night, Abby dumped out her bucket in the middle of the living room floor and took inventory. She even counted Noah's loot. Then my inherited-sweet-tooth boy hid his bucket in his closet for two days before I realized it was missing. No wonder Noah was spending so much time in his room. Geez...

Since we're doing the homeschool thing this year, I thought I'd use the candy to our "educational advantage" and do a math activity with Abby. On Thursday morning, I had her sort through her candy again, create categories, and helped her make a simple bar graph on large tablet paper. As she sorted through those 67 pieces (which she counted exactly), we talked about words to describe the candy & wrote them on index cards for our "Adjective Word Wall" - chewy, sticky, sweet, hard, crunchy... - a little twist on the Savoring Food activity from Fishful Thinking that helps promote Emotional Awareness and Optimism:

Select various food/snacks... Eat one of the items you selected and notice all the different tastes and textures. Take turns naming out loud something you notice...Repeat this with the other foods. Take an index card and list as many attributes of the food as you can.

An activity using Halloween candy that builds math, language, and positive-thinking skills all at the same time, and it was fun too! If only all of our school activities could be like this...

Next up, I think we may need to do a lesson about SHARING Halloween candy. I swear, it was like pulling teeth to get the kids to give Mom and Dad a measly little Hershey bar.


*As for the sharing issue - this year I'll be stashing away a handful of snack-size Snickers from our candy bowl just for me!

Family Favorite - FishfulThinking.com

When it comes to free parenting resources, FishfulThinking.com - developed by Goldfish crackers and Dr. Karen Reivich - is, hands down, one of the best out there. Designed around everyday things that you already do as a parent, this site provides all kinds of activities, articles, and ideas that promote optimism, resilience, emotional awareness, hope, and empowerment in our kids.

Click to see a snippet of what Fishful Thinking is all about...
Since being introduced to this program (more than two years ago), our family has really embraced it, and I have the blog posts to show for it! My first posts (on my personal blog) caught the eye of the Fishful Thinking team, and I was later invited to be a part of a faculty of ten moms from all across the country. Faculty moms participated in monthly conference calls, webinars, twitter parties, etc...along with Dr. Reivich that were such awesome learning experiences. That being said, I'll be featuring one or two of our "Fishful Thinking Favorites" every week - both past and present.

So if you haven't already, head on over there and browse around. You'll be glad you did!