Once upon a time... almost thirty years ago...I was a student teacher in a
first grade classroom. My mentor teacher and I sat down together and came up
with a fun math lesson using Skittles. I don't know where she got the idea
from, but the students in the class loved it! Our lesson included reviewing
color words, sorting and counting Skittles by color, and how to make and read
a simple bar graph. Keep reading for a quick rundown of the activities we used
in our math lesson and for a free printable for you to download!
Disclosure:
Affiliate links
to Amazon are included in this post.
Materials Needed for Skittles Math
Very few materials are needed for these Skittles math activities:
- fun-sized packs of Skittles
- a plate, bowl, muffin tin, little cups, etc. (I used a plastic egg tray.)
- white paper
- markers
- optional: Counting Skittles bar graph
Activity #1: Making Predictions
Children start learning about making predictions at an early age. They
learn that making a prediction is like making their
smartest guess. Hold up a fun-size pack of Skittles and ask your
students how they can figure out how many Skittles are in the pack without
opening it up. Can they touch the pack and feel the Skittles inside of it?
How many Skittles do they think are in there? What is their
smartest guess? What is their prediction? Record their
responses on an anchor chart. Then rip open the pack of Skittles, pour the
Skittles onto a plate, and count how many were in the pack. Did anyone in
your class make a correct prediction?
Activity #2: Sorting Skittles by Color
After predicting the number of Skittles in the fun-size pack, sort the
Skittles into groups by color. Some students will be able to identify the
colors and sort them without much thought, whereas others may need some
assistance. Review the names of colors as needed.
Activity #3: Counting Skittles
Another way to sort Skittles is by lining them by color on a piece of
paper. Take a look at this photo. How many red Skittles do you see? How
many orange Skittles? Yellow? Green? Purple? If time allows, have your
students practice writing their numbers on the paper.
Activity #4: Making a Simple Bar Graph
Once your students are able to sort and count objects and recognize color
words, they may be ready to take things to the next level... bar graphs!
After a quick minilesson about bar graphs, give each of your students a
fun-sized pack of Skittles and help them fill in the bar graph and the
blanks as needed. If you'd like a copy of this bar graph to use with your
students, feel free to download it by clicking the link below.
As an aside... there were three yellow Skittles on the graph... but a
certain cat of mine snatched them up before I could take the photo.
D'oh!
To download a FREE copy of this Skittles bar graph, (two pages in all),
please click on the image above. Clicking this image will take you to the
Teachers-Pay-Teachers third-party website. This is a
FREE download-- no purchase necessary.
Did you enjoy reading about Skittles math? If so, check out these blog
posts for more fun activities:
- Craft + Math: Mermaid Math: Counting, Colors, and Patterns
- STEM: Straw Bridge STEM Challenge
- STEM: Pepper and Soap STEM Experiment
- Book: The Mermaid and the Grumpy Old Clam by Kirk Kirkpatrick
- Craft + Math: How to Make and Use a Pizza Busy Bag
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