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You are here: Home / Fine Motor Activities / 7 Uses for Left Over Candy

7 Uses for Left Over Candy

October 25, 2016 by Amy Smith

Think about all candy your child accumulates at parties surrounding birthdays, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Valentine’s Day, and Easter. Yep, when you buy bulk candy the only minor downside is you have a little more than you need from time to time. You probably don’t want your child eating it all, so, what do you do with all that extra candy? Check out these 7 uses for left over candy and transform it into fun activities that develop their fine motor and academic skills! Now that is sweet!

Transform left over holiday candy into motivating kids' learning activities that develop fine motor and academic skills.

 

1. Twizzler Letters and Shapes (improves writing, reading, and fine motor skills)

Use the Peel-Apart type of Twizzler strings to make shapes and letters

7 Uses for left over candy

 

2. M&M Color sorting (improves math and fine motor skills)

Use M&M’s or Skittles to sort out colors into small containers

7 Uses for Left over Candy

 

3. Smartie Fish Bubbles (improves fine motor skills and eye-hand coordination)

Transfer Smarties onto glue dots to make a cute picture of a fish blowing out “Smartie” bubbles

 

7 Uses for Left Over Candy

 

4. Skittle Straw Races (improves visual motor skills, and can be used as a deep breathing/calming activity)

Use a straw to blow Skittles or M&Ms into a designated area. Make it into a race or use as a color sorting task.

 

7 Uses for Left Over Candy

 

5. Marshmallow “Eye ball” Painting (improves fine motor skills and creativity)

Brake off the stick from a sucker and press it into a marshmallow candy ( such as “monster eyes” or “Peeps”) and use it as a candy paint brush to paint a picture.

7 uses for left over candy

7 Uses for Left Over Candy

 

6. Starburst Tower (improves math skills and fine motor skills)

Stack up pieces of candy such as Starbursts or Now ‘n Laters to build a tower. Count the pieces in the tower and see how many you can get before it falls over.

7 Uses for Left Over Candy

 

7. Twizzler Cutting (improves cutting skills and hand strength)

Work on scissor skills by cutting Twizzlers into pieces. Cutting Twizzlers into small pieces is not only more motivating but it improves hand strength as it takes more force to cut through licorice compared with paper.

 

7 Uses for Left over candy

Enjoy the festivities of the holidays without all the extra sugar by re-using candy in these motivating educational ways! It’s something both kids and parents will be sweet on!

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Filed Under: Fine Motor Activities, Therapist's Tips Tagged With: academic activities, fine motor activities, Holidays

Disclaimer

Kids Play Smarter is a blog about general ideas, theories, and concepts related to the field of occupational therapy and the growth and development of all children. The information presented on this blog is not intended to serve as or replace occupational therapy services for your child. The information on this blog is for entertainment, informational, and educational purposes only. This blog is not meant to replace formal professional consultation or evaluation from a qualified clinician. All children need to have the approval of a physician to participate in physical activities, including those described on this blog. In addition, children need to be supervised by a responsible adult at ALL times when completing activities that are illustrated and described on this blog. The author of this blog is NOT responsible or liable for any damage, injury, accident, illness, death, or adverse reaction due to participation in the activities described on the website.

Welcome to Kids Play Smarter

Amy Smith I am an occupational therapist with over 10 years of experience working with children. I created this website to offer parents, teachers, and therapists FREE ideas, strategies, and activities that they can do with their children to improve their fine and gross motor skills, handwriting, academic learning, and regulate their sensory system all while "playing" (just playing smarter)! Read More…

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