7 Uses for Left Over Candy

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!

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

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

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

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

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.

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.

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. 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.

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!