I love Halloween. I do not, however, love the ridiculous amounts of candy we always seem to end up with on Halloween night. My son, on the other hand, thinks it’s fantastic. There is no way I would take that joy away from him. Therefore, I needed to find a healthy, fun way to go through this year’s stash before the Christmas candy begins to roll in.

I was thinking about this dilemma when suddenly it hit me: all of this candy can be used as an enormous collection of learning tools.

Now, being the fun-focused homeschool mama I am, I’m always on the lookout for new ways to sneak lessons into our everyday lives. I’ve gotten pretty good at it, and while I’m sure others have had similar ideas, I am pretty proud of myself for coming up with it as well.

So how do I plan to use our Halloween stash in my kiddo’s schooling? Well, I have a few ideas.

Cooking Chemistry

My son loves to cook. He finds the entire process fascinating, and because of this, he has already started to grasp the concept of fractions. I do my best to allow him to cook and bake as much as possible. By using small candies such as M&Ms to make cookies, we will have yet another opportunity to discuss fractions, cutting recipes in half, and the chemistry behind baking.

Candy Math

As a family, we really enjoy playing with numbers. We often plan number games while riding in the car, and our kindergartener thinks it’s a blast. We’ll use some of our candy for just such number games. After all, subtraction is much more interesting when you get to eat the difference!

Delicious Patterns

Patterns are another great concept that can be taken to the next level with candy. Simply provide a variety of candies, and let your young student create whatever patterns they wish. Encourage them to get elaborate with their patterns. If you’ve got the right kinds of candies, provide some string for making candy necklaces.

The Science of Color

Color mixing is a fun activity that kids of all ages enjoy. It’s even more fun when the colors come from leftover Halloween candy. Start with candy such as Skittles. Place the candies on a paper plate and drop water over them to make the colors run. Mix two colors to see what color they make. Try making a color wheel by putting the candies in a circle in rainbow order on the plate.

Sink or Float Experiment

Help your child learn about hypotheses by doing a simple sink or float experiment with some unwanted candies. Select your candies, have each child guess whether they think the candy will sink or float, and test their hypotheses. Discuss the reasons why the candy may be floating or sinking. See if the results change when you make adjustments such removing the wrapper from the candy or using a different liquid.

Hershey Bar Fractions

Hershey bars are great for learning fractions. I especially love the small, four-piece bars for my little guy, but the bigger bars would be great for older kids. Break the bar apart and use the piece to show various fractions. The visual is often helpful for kids who have trouble with the concept.

Launching Candy

Nothing is quite so fun as launching candy across the room. Why not offer your kids some materials and let them go wild building devices to get their candy from point a to point b? Whether your students build a catapult or a slingshot, they are sure to have a blast, and will likely come away with stronger problem-solving skills and a better understanding of physics.

Sweet Bar Graphs

Every kid enjoys sorting Halloween candy. Why not record their work by creating a bar graph together? This is the perfect opportunity to teach your student how to make and read bar graphs. Because they will be sorting and mentally tallying anyway, it won’t even feel like work.

Tasty Measurements

Candy also provides a great chance to practice measuring things. Try using a scale to balance the weight of two sets of candy. Use a ruler to measure all sides of a piece of candy. Sort like candy into piles then speculate which pile will weigh more. Weigh them to see if you’re correct.

Candy Wrapper Stories

As your children plow through their loot, make sure they save their wrappers. When they are finished eating candy, use the wrappers to create a story. Make up silly rules such as every other word must be a candy wrapper or only one non-wrapper word per sentence. This is a great way for young students to practice reading, writing, and spelling, and an excellent chance for slightly older students to work on parts of speech. It is also a great thought exercise that promotes creativity.

I hope these ideas inspire you to use that candy up while learning something new. Keep in mind that these are just a few of the many educational activities you could use your candy for. Try to come up with some fun experiments of your own. No matter which activities you end up doing, I’m sure you kids will appreciate the delicious lessons as well as the fun memories.

Do you have any fun, educational uses for Halloween candy?

My husband and I roadschool our son. This lifestyle was something we decided to do after realizing just how much he—and our family—can benefit from the experiences offered by long-term travel. It was a fantastic decision, and we have no regrets.

However, we have come across some naysayers who don’t comprehend the ways to learn through travel. They can’t imagine that our child could possibly be getting all of his lessons in while we are on the road.

What these people fail to realize is that traveling is his lesson. At five years old, it’s the only one he should be concerned about at this time.

So how do we ensure our son continues learning and growing as we explore the United States? Well, in all honesty, we could probably do next to nothing and continue to watch him blossom. However, we prefer to take a more active role in his education, and we have found many wonderful ways to enhance the educational value of our travels.

If you’d like to capitalize on the educational offerings of your family’s adventures, try these 6 easy ways to learn through travel.

Seek Out Educational Attractions

We adore science museums and unique libraries. Sometimes zoos or children’s museums will make their way into our itinerary. State and national parks also present great learning opportunities.

Many people are curious about how we afford to do all of these things. I would love to tell you that we’re independently wealthy and never have to worry about money, but that would be far from the truth.

Since we don’t have unlimited funds, we make good use of several reciprocal memberships. By planning our travel around the attractions offered by these memberships, we can see more for much less.

Read on the Go

Our family loves books! We listen to audio books and podcasts in the car and read aloud before bed. Our son taught himself to read with very little help from us using the Teach Your Monster to Read app. Now he uses Amazon FreeTime to read or listen to stories on his tablet when we aren’t available.

All of this reading means we gather a lot of information which sometimes leads to new hobbies and interests, all of which help us to grow intellectually as individuals and as a family.

Pay Attention to Your Surroundings

It often happens that the very best educational activities are not premeditated. By always staying aware of our surroundings, we have had many learning opportunities fall into our laps. From the fossils found during a recent nature hike to the little lizard discovered on my son’s bike during a ride one evening, we are constantly finding new things to discuss, read about, and enjoy.

Take it Slow

Those who pack too many things into each day tend to miss out on the natural learning experiences that come their way. Even if they do happen to slow down enough to notice something interesting, they often rush away before any real discovery occurs.

Therefore, we always make sure to schedule plenty of downtime into our days. We try to remain flexible in case we need to suddenly change plans to allow for further exploration of a place or thing.

Weave Lessons In

While we do take advantage of the lessons that come our way naturally, we also make an effort, as much as possible, to actively weave lessons into our travel. For instance, we will play number games while driving down the highway, have our son count out change for purchases at gift shops, or write letters to friends and family to practice spelling and handwriting.

By doing these things, we can make sure our son is getting a well-rounded set of skills.

Get to Know the Locals

This is admittedly something we need to do more of ourselves. By getting to know the locals, a person can get a better understanding of the culture and history of a place. Additionally, the locals always know the best places to go for fun, adventures, and good food—all things we definitely appreciate.

Whether you are planning a weekend trip, a week-long vacation, or long-term travel, these six tips will help you make the most of the educational opportunities you find, even while on the go.

Do you have an educational travel tip you’d like to add or a question about roadschooling?