Candy Corn Math Activities

Last year I wrote a post of learning activities using candy corn (or related to candy corn) and as controversial as eating this candy is, it’s clearly a favorite of folks who make printables and learning activities for kids. So this year I wanted to look exclusively at candy corn math activities, which give learning a colorful, triangular twist.

Everyday Chaos and Calm has some simple ideas for using candy corn on basic math activities for preschool and kindergarten, such as estimating and counting candy pieces, measuring the length of an object with candy corn and using them as game pieces for other math games.

Work on one to one correspondence with candy corn by printing out these candy corn counting jars from Math Geek Mama. Each one has a picture of a jar with a number of candy corn pieces in it (the number is also shown) so kids can add the same number to their empty jar on the page.

Learning Lattes and Literacy has printable candy corn counting sheets with ten frames to make it easier to count the number of candy corn pieces. These printables show numbers from 1 to 20 and include both the numerals and the word for the number.

Primary Playground has printable flash cards with numbers and the candy corn shape. You can use these to practice counting with candy corn, pom poms, little erasers, or anything else you have on hand. I love this option with putting little erasers into a cauldron using tongs. It’s math, fine motor skills and seasonally fun. They also have a cute greater than/less than activity for older kids using candy corn.

Make math time into a candy corn shaped puzzle with this activity from 123 Homeschool 4 Me. Each puzzle includes a math fact for multiplication in the orange section and division in the yellow section; the answer to both is the white piece. This is a great activity for third and fourth graders working on multiplication and division up to 18.

Royal Baloo has a great free candy corn math printable pack that’s perfect for kids ages 5-7 or so. It includes candy corn addition and subtraction puzzles, estimating, word problems, skip counting and more.

The notion of the importance of teaching kids how to write cursive seems to wax and wane. While some schools have taken it out of their curriculum, many still see the value of learning how to write and read script. My daughter learned how to write in cursive and though she doesn’t need it often, I’m glad to know she has those skills anyway.

If you’re a teacher or you want to teach your own children how to write in cursive, I found this great resource from The OT Toolbox that I think will help. They did a whole series of 31 days of posts about writing cursive and breaking down the skills that are needed to know how to form letters in cursive. It starts with the most basic elements — how and where a child is sitting, and how their paper is positioned.

It includes gross motor activities to get kids warmed up for writing, letter families and the starting lines used to start to form letters, tips for left handed students, letter identification, pencil grasp, writing speed and assessing problems, among other things.

You’ll also find some cursive letter flash cards that can be used to help with writing practice or letter identification.

You can find the whole series at The OT Toolbox.

Looking for more tools to help kids learn cursive? I love these free cursive letter practice printables from Living Loving Lancaster, which include practicing individual letters and tracing letters to write quotes.

Or grab individual letter practice worksheets that just include the letter in upper and lower case for kids to practice. These are from Everyday Chaos and Calm and are a great way to start practicing the individual letter forms. They also include a little map at the top that shows which way to form the letter or in what order if there are multiple strokes involved.

[Photo via The OT Toolbox]

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