How to Celebrate National Jelly Bean Day with Preschoolers

Do your preschoolers love jelly beans? Then you’ll be delighted to know that April 22nd is National Jelly Bean Day!

I hope you saved the jelly beans your kids got in their Easter baskets, because I’ve got five educational activities you can them for.

5 Educational Activities for National Jelly Bean Day

Language Arts

Begin National Jelly Bean Day by searching the house for the letter J. How many J’s can you and your children find?

Next use jelly beans to write the letters of the alphabet. You can print the capital letters on a piece of paper for your preschooler to trace the letters with jelly beans or simply line up the jelly beans to write the letters of the alphabet.

Remember to review the name and sound of each letter. Kids learn best through repetition!

Math

Jelly beans are perfect for math. First lay out a number of jelly beans and count them. Now lay out a different number and count the new line! Finally see how many jelly beans can your preschooler count!

Once you’re through counting jelly beans, try adding jelly beans. Start by putting a few jelly beans on a plate. Have your preschooler count them. Next add one more to the plate. Now how many jelly beans are on the plate?

Keep on adding as long as your preschooler is enjoying the game.

Now for the fun part of jelly bean math. Subtraction! As you subtract jelly beans from a group, eat the jelly beans. Your preschooler will adore learning about subtraction when it involves eating jelly beans!

Social Studies

Did you know it takes 3 days to make a jelly bean? I didn’t either until I wanted this YouTube video about how jelly beans are made in the factory! For starters, the candy center is made first before the outer shell is added.

Watch the video with your preschoolers. You’ll love this fascinating glimpse into the process by which candy is made and packaged for the store!

Science

Jelly beans are perfect for talking to preschoolers about the 5 senses: touch, sight, hearing, taste, and smell. You’ll need more jelly beans for this activity!

Touch: Hand your children a couple of jelly beans and have them handle the jelly beans. What do the jelly beans feel like? Are they smooth, rough, or soft?

Sight: Have your kids examine the jelly beans. What colors do they see? are the jelly beans shiny or dull?

Hearing: One jelly bean by itself doesn’t make any sound, but what do you hear when you shake a bag of jelly beans? If you shake 3 jelly beans in your hand, do you hear anything?

Smell: Have your children smell the jelly beans. Do they smell? Do different colors have different scents?

Taste: Now for the fun part of the activity! Taste the jelly beans. Do all the jelly beans taste the same or do the different colors have different tastes? Note what flavor your children think the jelly beans are.

Art

For artwork, ice a few graham crackers and have your children stick jelly beans to the crackers. See if your preschoolers can create pictures of flowers, people, or rainbows.

Try decorating each cracker differently. One could be decorated with only red jelly beans or a pattern of blue and white jelly beans.

Encourage your kids to explore their artistic side as they decorate graham crackers with jelly beans.

On National Jelly Bean Day remember to complete one or all of these fun and educational activities with your kids. After all, kids love activities which include jelly beans!

How will you celebrate National Jelly Bean Day?