Teach Mom Learn

Valentine’s candy is definitely the best part of the holiday. It’s a bright, delicious treat in the dreariest part of winter. It’s also a fantastic way to teach your child math, reading, writing, and functional skills.

Check out these 10 fun, easy ways to use your child’s Valentine’s candy as a teaching tool!

1. Sorting

For young children, sorting loose Valentine’s candy is a perfect educational activity. If they have all one type of candy, they can sort by color, but with multiple types, you can have your child sort by size, shape, or color.

Mixing multiple types of candy together can definitely be a way to challenge your child. It’s a great way to teach generalization of shapes and colors. Starburst and jelly beans can both be red, but the shades differ slightly.

2. Graphing

I do this activity with my class at least once a year, and it works great after Halloween too! Have your child sort a bunch of loose candy by a particular attribute (color, shape, flavor, etc.). Then, construct a bar graph or circle graph to represent the results. You can make the graph by hand (graph paper is a huge help!) or using Google Sheets.

Another option is to graph candy consumption over time. Your child could write down how many pieces of candy the eat each day for a period of time that you both agree on. Construct a line graph to display the data, then bring the rest of the candy to your local fire station.

No matter which graph you choose, ask your child questions about the data. Focus on comparison questions like “Which color was most common?” or “Which shape was least common?” You can ask questions about specific features of your graph to get your child thinking about the data.

3. Reading

Conversation hearts are are great way to get motivated for some reading! They may not be grammatically correct all the time, but the messages are cute and funny.

Make a rule for your early reader -if you can read it, you can eat it! Then have them go through the whole box with you.

What you give credit for is up to you. Personally, I’d do a run through with my child and sort the hearts into two piles -easy and challenge. Every time a heart lands in the challenge pile, go through it and sound out the words carefully with your child.

Once you’ve worked your way through the box, take another run at the challenge pile. Be sure to give your child specific praise when they correctly sound out a challenge heart -they’ve earned it!

4. More vs Less

For young kids, the concept of more vs. less can be tricky. Giving them differently sized groups of candy can help! One option is to use your “laminated” notecards and post-it notes and give your child a number sentence. They can flip the greater than or less than symbol around to make the number sentence true.

It helps to draw teeth in your greater than or less than symbol. We learned it as the monster mouth. And everyone knows monsters always want more candy, not less candy, so the mouth is always open in the direction of the number with the higher value.

Another option is to give your child groups of candy and have them write the number sentence. Start with drastically different amounts (e.g., 3 jelly beans vs. 12), then gradually make the groups closer in value to challenge your child.

5. Candy Map

Know that map in the top of a fancy box of chocolates? Look at it like a delicious, sugary coordinate plane. Have your child use the map to locate their favorite pieces of candy. They can count how many pieces up and over their flavor is, then use the candy’s shape as a way to check their work before they eat it.

Another option is to use the candy map to give your child multi-step directions. Have them start at a specific point in the box, then instruct them to travel around the box to find their candy. This activity is great for helping your child learn positional language.

6. Visual Support for Math

Is your child having difficulty with addition, subtraction, multiplication, or division? Candy is a great visual support to help! Take 3 notecards, then “laminate” with packing tape (teacher trick!). Use post-its for the operation and equal signs.

Place a random amount of candy over each of the first two notecards. Then have your child do the addition, subtraction, multiplication, or division to solve the problem.

For older children struggling with algebra, the candy can help with one-step equations. They can use the candy as a visual support to solve the problem.

7. Probability

Probability is always one of my favorite concepts to teach in math class. It’s highly interactive, and students love it every year. Normally, we use blocks, chips, and board games, but for Valentine’s Day, you can use your child’s candy!

Grab a container your child can’t see through. Have your child deposit a specific amount of at least 3 types of candy into the container. Then, work together to calculate the probability of choosing each type.

Have your child pick a piece, then either eat it or put it back in the container. If your child eats the candy, recalculate the probability of each type and keep going until the bag is empty.

If your child decides to put the candy back in the container, you can work on theoretical probability (what we expect to happen) vs. actual probability (what really happens). Have your child keep a tally of the results of 10 reaches into the candy container. Chances are, the results will not match up exactly to the theoretical probability!

8. Descriptive Language

Candy can be used for a ton of activities promoting descriptive language. For younger kids, use the 5 senses. Ask what they see, how it sounds when they drop it onto a table, how the candy feels in their hand, and how it smells and tastes.

You can also use the candy to teach position words, like near, far, over, under, right, and left. Place the candy wherever you’d like, then work with your child to describe its position.

For older children, encourage a little descriptive creative writing. Acrostic poems and sensory writing prompts are easy and fun ways to build your child’s writing skills. Encourage a specific goal, whether it’s humor, figurative language, or lots of adjectives.

You’ll be amazed by what your child comes up with when there’s a sugary reward waiting for them!

9. Paint with Candy

Did you know you can actually make paint using Starburst? Or do watercolor-style pieces with Skittles? There are dozens of fantastic blogs with some super creative ideas, such as this taste-safe Starburst paint from Learn Play Imagine and watercolor Skittles paint from Parent Chaos. Parenting Chaos even includes a list of all the educational benefits Skittles paint brings for your child, such as early writing, fine motor, and color identification skills.

Build your child’s functional reading skills by having them go through the directions. Let your child take the lead on as many of the steps as possible (great for autonomy!), but be there to help if they need you. Then have fun creating a work of art!

10. Candy Scavenger Hunt

Who doesn’t love a good scavenger hunt? Hide your child’s candy in a tricky spot, then write up clues to help them find it.

There are a million different ways to use your scavenger hunt as a learning tool. You can build decoding and functional reading skills by having your child simply read the directions. There could be a math element where your child has to solve problems or equations to determine how many steps they take for each clue.

For older kids, you could use their study guide for an upcoming test to write questions. Each time they get one right, they get the next clue. Or you could turn the tables and have them hide the candy and write instructions for you (great for functional writing and executive functioning skills!).

For more fun Valentine’s Day ideas, check out these easy, inexpensive date ideas for busy parents!