Few things can motivate children to learn like the promise of a sweet and tasty treat. Given a bag of M&M®s, Skittles®, or other colorful candy, students first predict the contents of the bag before counting the pieces, creating a bar graph, and writing fractions and percents that represent each of the different colors.

Concepts

percents, bar graphs, graphing data, mean, median, mode, average

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Additional Tags

math

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Instructional Ideas

• Use this activity near the end of a pre-algebra unit on fractions, decimals, and percents or probability and statistics
• Differentiate the lesson by creating cups of candy to use during the lesson, some containing fewer pieces and some containing more depending on the abilities of students
• Though it's not mentioned on the worksheets, be sure students simplify the fractions they find
• Extend the activity by having students find the measures of central tendency for their candy

Classroom Considerations

• Be sure to check with your school's policy regarding giving children candy before teaching this lesson. If candy isn't allowed, use trail mix or some other mixed snack instead

Pros

• Includes a series of worksheets for recording, graphing, and analyzing the contents of the bags of candy
• A clear set of step-by-step directions are included for carrying out the activity
• Worksheets are numbered in the order they are to be completed
• Activity can easily be adapted for a range of grade levels

Cons

• None

Common Core

3.NF.A.1 6.SP.A.1 6.SP.A.2 6.SP.A.3 6.SP.B.5.a 6.SP.B.5.c MP1 MP4