Skittles Math

Skittles, 49 cents at the local Walgreens.

Breakfast dishes in the dishwasher. Mom has a surprise!

Bag opens. Mom pulls out five small bags of .....SKITTLES! 

Time for Skittle math. 

First we sorted the colors. The littlest learners loved this!

We counted.

Then we used mom's circle cutter to cut out construction paper circles in corresponding colors.

Then we graphed the colors. 

Oh no! Problem!

13 circles don't fit on the paper.

One learner's solution: 

one circle = 2 Skittles

1/2 circle = 1 Skittle

Problem solved!

Counted and graphed.

We discovered of the five bags of Skittles we opened (each child had their own bag), two bags contained 61 Skittles and three bags contained 62 Skittles. I asked the children to look at the weights on the bags. Same weights. Interesting. 

Could a machine deposit Skittles in each bag according to weight? 

Great question asked by one learner. Others agreed this must be the case. 

One learner added Skittles of two different colors. 

Two-digit addition. Visual representation.

One learner decided to represent each color as a fraction of the whole bag. 

Each learner used their empty package to create a unique cover to their Skittles Math book. 

Sale

Interest

Math

Problem solving

Understanding

LOVE!