M&Ms

Spatial Requirements: Regular classroom setup; little or no space required
Activity Type: Group
Grades: K-12
Group size: 1 or more
Time: 20-30 minutes

• 1 bag of M&M’s (enough for each student to grab a handful of 15 or 20)
• 1 blank piece of paper for each student (This is used as a placemat.)

Instruct students to place their paper on the desk or table in front of them. Go around the room with the bag of M&M’s, and have each student grab a handful and place it on their paper. Now tell the students to sort their M&M’s on their paper by color. Let them know that they’ll be answering get-to-know-you questions based on how many M&M’s of each color they have. For example, if they have two blue M&M’s, they’ll be asked to give two responses to the “blue” question. If they have three red M&M’s, they’ll give three responses to the “red” question. If they have no yellow M&M’s, they won’t be required to answer the “yellow” question. (Note: If they have more than three of one color, you may want to have them give only three responses.)

Ask each question, then go around the room and have the students respond. If a student cannot think of a response, you may skip them and come back to them later. The following are some suggestions for questions you might ask. You may change them according to the needs and age of your group.

Red: What is something that makes you mad?
Green: What is a positive quality that you have?
Yellow: How do you feel about school?
Brown: What is something you love about your family?
Blue: What motivates you?

• What did you learn about the people in your group?
• What question was the hardest one to respond to?
• What were some of the similarities you had with other members of the group?