4 Fun games with Halloween candy

The good thing about unschooling is that everything in life becomes a learning opportunity.

The bad thing about unschooling is that everything in life becomes learning opportunity!

At least I'm pretty sure that's what my kids think some days.

They're starting to realize that all those games we play are actually "school work." Mwaaahaaa! My evil plans. LOL.

Here are some of the games we played with the Halloween candy:

(1) Candy Store

First she had to organize the candy. (A woman after my own heart!!!)

She organized her candy by type. 

Then she gave me some play money that she made and asked me to buy her candy. (But not for keeps!)

We added, grouped, and multiplied candy prices for a while and had a great it of fun.





(2) Kid Candy Burrito

My tuckered-out son fell asleep as soon as he was done trick or treating.

But my daughter was ready to literally roll around in her candy loot.

She wanted to be an ice cream burrito with candy sprinkles.

"Kid burritos" offer an amazing calming experience for a lot of kids. And it helps to get centered for learning activities.

Lots of kids (but not all!) like to get wrapped and rolled up tightly in a blanket. It's a great sensory tool for kids with sensory processing disorder, autism, adhd, etc.

(3) Candy "I" Spy

This was my favorite game. It was fun and had lots of literacy and numeracy aspects to it.  We heaped the candy in a pile in between us.

We closed our eyes and mixed up the candy. 

Then we took turns calling out what kinds of candy to look for when we both opened our eyes. 

We each tried to be the first to find these kinds of things:

Can you find a candy with a number in its name?

Can you find candy with two syllables in its' name?

Can you find candy whose name starts with the letter S? R? K?

Can you find candy whose name has two of the same letters in a row?

How about candy with 2 pairs of the same letters in a row?

Can you find something on a stick?

Can you find something you don't chew and swallow?

Can you find Square candy?

Rectangle candy?

Circle candy?

Something that is 2 of a kind? 3 of a kind? Full house? LOL.






(4) Venn Diagrams

Similar to the last game this helps classification skills.

On the dry erase board we made two intersecting circles.

In each of the circles where there was no overlap we put candy that had one of the two desired attributes. e.g., Square or Red.

In the area of overlap we put candy with both attributes. e.g., Square and Red

Outside of the circles we put candy that had none of the attributes. e.g., Not square and Not red.

Have fun with your candy!    What games do you play with Halloween loot?