Easy Halloween Math Activities with Candy

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With Halloween only a few days away, my kids are very excited. I find that this is a great opportunity to build on their excitement and integrate it into their learning. There are lots of hands-on and creative Halloween math activities that you can do with the piles of candy that end up in the house this time of year.

Whether you try these activities before Halloween, or as something to do after Halloween, this collection of hands-on Halloween math activities with candy, will keep kids engaged during an exciting celebration.

If your kids are anything like mine, they will end up playing with their candy after Halloween and be excited to get their hands on it. Encourage a few math activities as they play to make learning meaningful and doing math fun.

Below is a collection of Halloween activities you can do with candy. You can do the activities before Halloween, in class or at home, and simply give children a container with a variety of candy to work through the math activities with. The activities also work well as math centers.

You can also do the activities after Halloween using the actual candy that children collect. I have also created a FREE “Halloween Candy Math” booklet for children to record their answers and even create a candy bar graph. A link can be found at the end of this post.

Halloween math activities

Halloween Math Activities Materials

The great thing about these hands-on math activities is that you don’t need any special materials. You only need a variety of candy.

You can also print off my free “Halloween Candy Math” booklet to use with children doing the activities.

By using Halloween candy for these math activities you will keep kids engaged because they are excited to ‘play’ with their candy.

Halloween Math Activity – Counting

One math activity that many children naturally do with their candy on Halloween is sort it. Kids are excited about all of their candy and love to get their hands on it. Simply sorting and counting how many of each type of chocolate bar, or gummy candy they have is a great math activity, especially for young children.

Encourage children to count how many pieces of candy they have. Encourage them to:

  • Estimate first how many pieces of candy they have
  • Guess which kind of candy they have the most of
  • Guess what kind they have the least of
  • Place the candy in groups of 5 or 10 as they count
Halloween math

Depending how much candy your children have, they may work with some big numbers as they count. Grouping the candy into piles of 10 as they count can help them count more accurately.

Once the candy has been counted, you can encourage children to:

  • Print the number of candies they have
  • Write the word for how many candies they have
  • Show the number in tally marks
  • Find the number on a 100s chart

Halloween Math Activity – Sorting

Once it has been counted, sorting candy is another great math activity for young children. Sorting candies requires children to notice similarities and differences between the packaging and placing candies in groups. This is a simple activity, but an easy way to integrate some math into Halloween.

Once children have sorted their candy in one way, such as brand, encourage children to try to sort it in another way, such as by wrapper color or by candy type, such as chocolate or gum.

Halloween Math Activities Bar Graph

Data management and graphing is a great math unit to do around Halloween. I love doing this lesson with my students in the classroom as a fun way to teach how to make a bar graph using hands-on materials.

At home, we stuck some tape to the floor in the shape of an ‘L’ to make the x and y axis of a bar graph.

Halloween math

Start by sorting the candy that you are using to make the bar graph. There are many different ways that the candy can be sorted. Allow children the opportunity to find different ways to sort. Some possible categories are:

  • Suckers
  • Chocolate
  • Gummies
  • Gum
  • Chips
  • Hard Candy
  • Sour Candy
  • Color (Sort by color)

Once children have sorted the candy, they can create their graph. Lay candy in columns on the ground to show how many there are of each. You can create labels for each of the categories.

Since not all of the candy is the same size, this is a good learning opportunity to encourage children to make sure to count each of the candies to compare the columns. You can also encourage children to line up the candies in rows so that there is only one candy in each row.

This is a great activity to keep children engaged by using Halloween candy to create a hands-on bar graph.

Halloween Math Activity Patterning

Halloween math activities

Another fun, hands-on activity for children to try with their Halloween candy is to create patterns. Children can create a pattern based on the type of candy, or even the wrapper color. Any pattern can show that they can see the difference between the candies.

Encourage children to create any pattern they can think of, or give them a pattern such as ABAB (chocolate, sucker, chocolate, sucker) and have them represent it using their candies.

Halloween math

There are countless patterns that can be made from a variety of candies. Allow children to play around with the candies they have to create different patterns.

More Hands-On Candy Activities

Beyond math activities, there are lots of other learning opportunities! Below are a few more ideas to stretch out the learning using the candy.

A simple language activity with the candy for young children is to encourage children to create their name using the candy. What candies are best to create certain letters? Can you make your first and last name? Can you create your name is upper case letters and then again in lower case?

Once you have made your name, can you create each letter of the alphabet?

Halloween math activities

You can also encourage children to find each letter of the alphabet on the candy wrappers. This may take close inspection for some of the letters, but it is also a fun way to have children find and identify their letters.

Halloween Candy Activity Printables

You can easily find a balance between hands-on activities and pencil and paper work with this FREE Halloween Candy Math. Children can sort and count their Halloween candy and then complete the bar graph and math questions in their booklet. Color and black and white pages included. Subscribe below for an link to my Free Resource Library and an instant download link to the printable.

Halloween math activities

Free Halloween Candy Math Printable

To print the FREE Halloween Candy Math booklet, join my mailing list and gain access to my full FREE Resource Library, filled with lots of educational resources. You can download any products that are of interest to you – and all for FREE!

Halloween math activities

More Hands-On Teaching Ideas

For more learning activities for kids at home, or in the classroom, below is a collection of my most popular and favorite activities. From escape rooms and science experiments to number talks and more fall and Halloween activities, there is lots to keep kids busy and learning.

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