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.

Pairing learning with activities and games is the best way to get kids to learn, and there are a lot of ways to make math centers to help kids learn numbers, number order, one to one correspondence and more.

Each of those skills could probably be its own post, but let’s delve a little deeper into some ideas for math centers for early learners.

Ten frames are a classic for learning to count and understanding numbers. It’s just a grid of five columns and two rows to start with, so you can draw one by hand or on your computer, or make one out of tape on the floor like this version from Busy Toddler. It includes an activity using a deck of cards and little toys to count out the number you see.

Similarly, this dot sticker math activity from Happy Toddler Playtime uses Uno cards and has kids peel and stick the number they see on the card. You can do this with stickers of any kind, dot markers or whatever manipulatives you have on hand, from pom poms to little erasers.

Peeling stickers is a great fine motor activity addition to the math center, and another take on that is this one from Laughing Kids Learn, where she wrote numbers in muffin liners. Kids can use tongs or tweezers to pick up pompoms to place the correct number in each liner. You could also use plastic cups for this.

And speaking of cups, any cup with a rim (these are actually Styrofoam, not plastic) can be used to make an easy number tower activity for your math center. This one is from The Activity Mom and is super simple to set up. You could actually use the same cups for different activities such as stacking the cups in order, doing odd and even numbers or placing items in the cups.

While kids are learning the numbers in order they can play with this missing number math activity from Planning Playtime. It uses supplies you probably already have — craft sticks and clothespins — and is another great fine motor skill builder at the same time it teaches math skills.

These last few are paid but they’re cute so I couldn’t help sharing. Use unit cubes to build a city with building of differing heights with this printable from Preschool Activities. Or count with plastic links with this one from The Kinderhearted Classroom. I also love the flip, make and build printable from Blocks and Beads that helps teach counting up to 10.

Have you read?

Leave a Reply