| Do all the sweeteners in candy corn leave you | | | | How much money does an individual candy cost? |
| wondering if it's good for your kids? In some | | | | That is an excellent math/life problem. Which |
| ways, it just might be. Candy corn just might | | | | store charges the best price? Try weighing |
| boost thinking skills and improve grades! | | | | the candy corn - or even try weighing the |
| After letting them eat their fill, have your | | | | children after they have gone through a few |
| children use the candy corn for some math | | | | bags of it! |
| lessons this Halloween season. | | | | |
| | | | A huge jar full of candy corn offers a great |
| On a very simple level, the orange, yellow, | | | | guessing/estimating math game. And the whole |
| and white portions can help teach colors and | | | | thing might be handed to the child with the |
| shapes. Stir them with some M&M's for a fine | | | | best answer. There is some mathematical way |
| motor skills exercise for little fingers. | | | | of coming up with a pretty accurate estimate. |
| Have children rearrange them together to make | | | | Is the candy worth the trouble of working |
| new shapes. | | | | through the geometry calculations? Hopefully |
| | | | the tasty candy corn prize will be |
| Could you use something a smidge less | | | | appropriately motivating. |
| elementary? You could try using the tiny | | | | |
| candy corn for board game markers. Candy corn | | | | Some geometry students might enjoy the |
| bingo is great fun - with the numbers on the | | | | Internet Math Challenge from the University |
| grid providing answers to equations and the | | | | of Idaho. The challenge involves assuming the |
| candies marking the spots. Kids can graph | | | | candy corn is a perfect cone and |
| different amounts of the candy. Making | | | | reconfiguring its color's dimensions. With |
| spinners from cardboard with the arrows | | | | each stripe of color being 1/3 the height, |
| shaped like candy corn can provide another | | | | determine what fraction of the overall height |
| fun way of working with numbers. | | | | each color would consume, if the candy corn |
| | | | colors were inverted. |
| Have you realized that candy corn - when | | | | |
| placed on their sides - can be "greater than" | | | | Mathematics and candy corn unite in the world |
| and "less than" symbols? Kids might enjoy | | | | of make believe. Check out the book The Candy |
| unequal problems a lot more if working with | | | | Corn Contest by Patricia Reilly Giff for some |
| candy for the results. | | | | fun reading as well as exercises in logic. |
| | | | In the book, a kid can't stop thinking about |
| Next, how about a few story problems? Tommy | | | | his class contest. Whoever estimates the |
| has 20 pieces of candy corn. If he gets his | | | | total number of candy corn in the jar gets to |
| sister's 20 pieces, how many will he have | | | | keep them all. The only catch is that each |
| now? Since the story problem is quite | | | | guess requires the student to read a page of |
| flexible, candy corn is still helpful when | | | | a library book. |
| the degree of difficulty is stretched a | | | | |
| little. Perhaps the children should find the | | | | Now that's brain food! Maybe candy corn will |
| square root of the number of pieces of candy | | | | become the poster candy for teachers all |
| corn that Tommy has. Or maybe Tommy's stash | | | | over. Not likely. But, hopefully, adding a |
| of candy corn is going to grow exponentially | | | | little tasteful fun to a math exercise will |
| over the entire month of October until | | | | encourage thinking and problem solving. It |
| Halloween! Lucky Tommy. (And Tommy's dentist | | | | might also give the old excuse "the dog ate |
| too...) | | | | my math" a little more confidence. |
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