Learning with M&Ms: There are many opportunities for learning across the curriculum with these little candies, including spelling games, math games, exercise, and social activities. Love the getting-to-know-you game for the beginning of the school year or for new students.
Several months ago, my son came home from swim team practice inspired by a new family activity: the M&M game. Last year, every Monday at practice was M&M Monday: each child gets an M&M and does whatever is assigned to that color on the M&M chart—it’s a fun way for the kids to run their drills. But even better, it offered opportunities for us to play a similar game, doing everything from homework to household chores to indoor and outdoor activities to extended learning across the curriculum.
The M&M game was also an icebreaker we used in college. Everyone would grab a handful and match their colors to questions on a chart, and then before eating, we’d answer our questions.
My son wanted to take this a step further. He suggested a weekend M&M game (yes, I do see where he was going with this—any excuse to eat M&Ms, right?).
But, really, I liked the idea. M&Ms are an inexpensive little bit of encouragement. And you can easily swap them out for Skittles, Candy Hearts, Jolly Ranchers… anything with multiple colors. In fact, you don’t even have to use candies. Colorful balls, punched circles, and colored popsicle sticks will work just as well.
I suggested we look at this idea and use it for learning. We can use M&Ms to practice spelling words, math facts… even chores around the house. M&Ms could offer journal prompts, writing topics, even speech and debate topics, and math practice (grabbed a red? Uh-oh! You have to practice the 8-times multiplication facts before eating!) M&Ms could be used in the classroom to help place kids in cooperative groups.
I’ve used M&Ms and Skittles to teach graphing and computer skills for years, but the M&M game just opened up new opportunities to help children learn, socialize and do.
Now, excuse me. I need to run to CVS to grab another bag of candies.
How would you use M&Ms to help with learning? Leave a comment and let me know!
