How Many Kisses? - Valentine's Day Math Center
Here's a simple, yet fun math center idea for Valentine's Day. Find a large canning jar, decorating the outside with ribbons and other embellishments {optional}, and fill it with Hershey kiss candies. Set the jar in the math station along with a class chart, inviting your kiddos to estimate how many candies are in the jar.
Before turning them loose at the center, be sure to discuss with them what an appropriate guess might be. For instance, they can clearly see that there are more than two candies in the jar so "2" wouldn't be a good guess. However, "2000" would also be a wild/bad guess. Perhaps, you might consider filling a smaller jar with candies, telling your students how many Hershey kisses the smaller jar holds in order to help them make an appropriate estimation.
At the end of the holiday week, count the number of candies as a class {perhaps separating the kisses into groups of 5 or 10 to facilitate the process} and award the student with the closest approximation a small gift!
