Create Graphs Using M&M's: A Fun Math Activity for Middle School

Need a fun and interactive way to teach graphs? Try graphing candy! Have each student estimate how many M&Ms of each color there are in a single serve size bag. No snacking until the end of the lesson!

Needed Materials

1 bag of M&Ms for each student (Be sure to use non-peanut M&Ms if any students are allergic to peanuts.)

paper

crayons

Before Opening the Bags of M&Ms

Ask students to write down the answers to the following questions before opening their bag of M&Ms:

• Estimate how many M&Ms are in the package.
• How many different colors are in the package and what are they?
• Which color do you think occurs most often?
• Which color do you think occurs least often?
• Look at your package and one other package near you. Do you think that all of the packages weigh the same? What would be the easiest way to find out?
• Estimate how many M&Ms there are of each color in your package.
• Create a chart of each color and your estimate of how many there are of each color.

Open the Bag, but Don’t Eat the M&Ms Yet

• Sort the M&Ms by color and count how many there are of each color. Chart the actual numbers by your estimates.
• Compare your estimates to the actual amounts in the bag.
• Compare the amount of M&Ms and colors in your bag to the amounts that other people have.
• Why do you think that everyone does not have the same amounts of each color?

Graph Time

• Make a double bar graph comparing the amounts of estimated and actual M&Ms by color. Title it. Use a key to tell what the colors mean (one color for actual and one color for estimated). Label the x-axis with “Color” and the y-axis with “Number of M&Ms.”
• Make a pictograph for the actual amount of each color of M&Ms. Title the graph. Use the key: one picture of an M&M = 2 actual M&Ms.

Assessment

• Students’ charts
• Students’ graphs
• Students can explain the charts and graphs orally and in writing.

Notes

This activity can be completed in a variety of ways:

• Each student can use his/her own small bag of M&Ms to create the charts and graphs.
• The class can create a chart and graph using a large bag of M&Ms.
• Each student can make estimates and a chart using his/her own small bag of M&Ms, and the class can then find the average amount of each color to create one graph.