25 Fruit Loop Activities

Last week our family did our first grocery trip of our no spend month and we had all agreed that we would only buy what was on the list, so I made sure to put a couple small treats that we don’t normally get on the list. The first of those treats was a box of generic Fruit Loops.
I am all about stretching a dollar and I couldn’t help but wonder, “how much could we do with a single box of generic Fruit Loop cereal?”
We had a ton of fun answering that question!
Here’s what we came up with…

1. Chemistry Lab.
A tray with Fruit Loops, food dye, water, salt, vinegar, baking soda, baking powder, cornstarch, and some mixing spoons entertained LittleMan and SunnyGirl for almost a full hour.
25 Fruit Loop Activities from Suzy Homeschooler, chemistry lab (1) 25 Fruit Loop Activities from Suzy Homeschooler, chemistry lab (2)

2. Circle Stamps.
A few Fruit Loops glued onto bottle caps proved a quick and easy stamping method.
It should be noted that these stamps can only be used a couple times, and that they should be wiped clean after use, not washed, otherwise they go soggy.
25 Fruit Loop Activities from Suzy Homeschooler, circle stamping (1) 25 Fruit Loop Activities from Suzy Homeschooler, circle stamping (2)

3. Color Sorting.
This one is pretty self explanatory, just supply the little ones with a bowl of fruit loops and label 6 small containers or bowls with the colors to be sorted.
25 Fruit Loop Activities from Suzy homeschooler, color sorting (1) 25 Fruit Loop Activities from Suzy homeschooler, color sorting (2)

4. Color Wheel.
For the slightly older child, color sorting might be a bit too easy for them. Take it up a notch by making a color wheel. This is a great conversation starter to discuss color mixing, primary vs secondary colors, complimentary colors, etc..
25 Fruit Loop Activities from Suzy Homeschooler, color wheel (1) 25 Fruit Loop Activities from Suzy Homeschooler, color wheel (2)

5. Counting.
We used our hundreds chart, placing one loop on each number to count to 100.
25 Fruit Loop Activities from Suzy Homeschooler, counting to 100

6. Do A Dot Pages.
We got this do-a-dot page (along with many others) for free from Homeschool Creations. The page is paired with a bowl of Fruit Loops and a set of kiddie chopsticks we rigged up using disposable chopsticks, paper, and a rubber band.
25 Fruit Loop Activities from Suzy Homeschooler, do-a-dot pages

7. Double O Phonics Practice.
I glued two loops onto a word strip, cut two slits into the word strip before the loops, wrote letters out onto a thin paper strip, then threaded the thin paper strip through the slits in the word strip. Now the paper with the letters slides easily up and down changing the letter in front of the loops. Together LittleMan and I will go through the letters practicing how each sounds when paired with the double O.
25 Fruit Loop Activities from Suzy Homeschooler, double o phonics (1) 25 Fruit Loop Activities from Suzy Homeschooler, double o phonics (2)

8. Flowers.
A bit of glue onto a bottle cap and a few fruit loops, now we have flowers for small world play or a fun bouquet on the kitchen table.
25 Fruit Loop Activities from Suzy Homeschooler, flowers

9. Playdough.
We love making playdough in our home, we do it all the time! This time we added crushed Fruit Loops to the usual playdough ingredients (flour, salt, cream of tartar, veggie oil, water) just to see what would happen. The end result was pretty fun! The loops softened during the cooking process however retained their color fairly well, so even though the playdough feels as smooth and soft as ever, there are bursts of color throughout the dough. If I was to do this again, I think I would double the amount of Fruit Loops we added, for more color bursts.
25 Fruit Loop Activities from Suzy Homeschooler, fruit loop playdough (1) 25 Fruit Loop Activities from Suzy Homeschooler, fruit loop playdough (2)

10. Dr Seuss Small World Play.
We used the Fruit Loop playdough as grass, blue Fruit Loops as the lake, some of the Fruit Loop flowers I talked about above, and making truffula trees from kabob sticks, fruit loops, and feathers. The Lorax is simply an orange ball from our ball pit with eyes drawn on and a paper mustache taped on.
I’m really pleased with how well this turned out and am considering another Fruit Loop small world play….perhaps next time we’ll do Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
25 Fruit Loop Activities from Suzy Homeschooler, Dr Seuss small world play (2) 25 Fruit Loop Activities from Suzy Homeschooler, Dr Seuss small world play (3)

11.Edible Necklace.
I suggest tying a Fruit Loop to the end to keep the other loops from falling off. You might also consider wrapping the threading end with a bit of tape so that it doesn’t fray. As well as Fruit Loops, we also supplied LittleMan with Cherrios, pretzels, and candy beads. He was extremely pleased with the results!
25 Fruit Loop Activities from Suzy Homeschooler, edible necklaces (1) 25 Fruit Loop Activities from Suzy Homeschooler, edible necklaces (2)
And the next day we were playing with Fruit Loops outside when the neighbors came over to ask if they could join us. Three of the kids ended up making Fruit Loop necklaces which got me to thinking, this would make a really cheap and easy playdate activity!
25 Fruit Loop Activities from Suzy Homeschooler, edible necklaces (playdate version)

12. Estimating.
Fill a clear container with Fruit Loops and ask each family member to take a guess as to how many Fruit Loops are inside. LittleMan guessed 1,000. Not even close. Cute as heck the way he pronounced it though!
25 Fruit Loop Activities from Suzy Homeschooler, estimating

13. Fairy Wands.
A stick, a pipe cleaner, and a few Fruit Loops. These were a hit with the kids!
25 Fruit Loop Activities from Suzy Homeschooler, fairy wands

14. Fruit Loop Bucket Toss.
Ok, so I don’t have actual buckets but I figured mixing bowls were close enough. Line up the bowls then have the kids stand behind a tape line to toss Fruit Loops into the bowls. For those of you old enough to understand the reference, think Bozo the Clown’s bucket toss. I wish I had gotten a better picture of the kids doing this, they played for nearly 2 hours and had an absolute BLAST with this game.
25 Fruit Loop Activities from Suzy Homeschooler, Fruit Loop Bucket Toss (1)

15. Graphing.
How many of each color Fruit Loop is in one cup of cereal?
I would suggest either doing this exercise with a half a cup of cereal OR using a poster board to make the graph on. We ended up having to double up the rows of loops to make them all fit [oops!].
25 Fruit Loop Activities from Suzy Homeschooler, graphing (1) 25 Fruit Loop Activities from Suzy Homeschooler, graphing (2)

16. Greater Than/Less Than/Equal To.
See my post on Math Munchers [click here] to read more about this exercise.
25 Fruit Loop Activities from Suzy Homeschooler, greater than and less than

17. Make a Rainbow.
A tray of loops, a piece of paper with a rainbow outline drawn on it, some glue and a brush to apply it. Viola! Rainbow.
25 Fruit Loop Activities from Suzy Homeschooler, make a rainbow (1) 25 Fruit Loop Activities from Suzy Homeschooler, make a rainbow (2)

18. Measuring.
Just like we used gummy bears to measure the length of a toy car, we used Fruit Loops to measure the length of a ruler. You could measure just about anything with Fruit Loops.
25 Fruit Loop Activities from Suzy Homeschooler, measuring length (1) 25 Fruit Loop Activities from Suzy Homeschooler, measuring length (2)
BTW- a 12 inch ruler is 20 Fruit Loops long.

19. Memory (Matching) Games.
I came up with two ways of doing this, the first is to use all the same color Fruit Loops, then write something small on the back of each one (for example, a letter). Make sets of two and turn them plain side up to play.
25 Fruit Loop Activities from Suzy Homeschooler, memory and matching games (1) 25 Fruit Loop Activities from Suzy Homeschooler, memory and matching games (2)
The second idea I had requires bottle caps to cover the fruit loops. Have two fruit loops of each color and lift the bottle caps to find the matching pairs.
25 Fruit Loop Activities from Suzy Homeschooler, memory and matching games (3) 25 Fruit Loop Activities from Suzy Homeschooler, memory and matching games (4)

20. Perimeter and Diameter.
LittleMan is only 4 years old but he seemed to grasp the basic concept that perimeter meant around the outside whereas diameter meant straight through. Even if he didn’t fully grasp it, this was still a fun exercise in counting and fine motor skills.
25 Fruit Loop Activities from Suzy Homeschooler, perimeter and diameter (1) 25 Fruit Loop Activities from Suzy Homeschooler, perimeter and diameter (2)

21. Sensory Bin.
Some silicone baking cups, party forks, tongs, measuring spoons, styrofoam with toothpicks for threading, and small containers with holes in the top.
25 Fruit Loop Activities from Suzy Homeschooler, sensory bin (1)
Party forks were for LittleMan to pick up the loops like so…
25 Fruit Loop Activities from Suzy Homeschooler, sensory bin (serving fork)
and the small containers with holes on top were for Sunny Girl to practice her favorite activity, posting.
25 Fruit Loop Activities from Suzy Homeschooler, sensory bin (posting box)

22. Texture Finger Paint.
Mix some crushed loops into finger paints for a new sensory experience. SunnyGirl really enjoyed this one.
25 Fruit Loop Activities from Suzy Homeschooler, textured finger paint (1) 25 Fruit Loop Activities from Suzy Homeschooler, textured finger paint (2)

23. Patterning.
Pretty self explanatory, I made simple patterns and asked LittleMan to continue the pattern. He’s gotten pretty good at this in the past month. I think he might almost be ready to make a pattern up on his own.
25 Fruit Loop Activities from Suzy Homeschooler, patterning (2)

24. Eat them!
Yes, of course they taste delicious with cold milk. However, cold milk isn’t the only way to enjoy Fruit Loops!
We mixed some crushed Fruit Loops into vanilla yogurt.
25 Fruit Loop Activities from Suzy Homeschooler, fruit loop yogurt
And we mixed some crushed Fruit Loops into our favorite sugar cookie recipe.
25 Fruit Loop Activities from Suzy Homeschooler, fruit loop cookies
Both the yogurt and cookies tasted good. The kids really loved them, but I think I still prefer my Fruit Loops with cold milk.

25. Cereal Box Abacus.
When the box is almost empty this is a excellent, educational re-purpose.
25 Fruit Loop Activities from Suzy Homeschooler, cereal box abacus

Can you believe all this fun came out of one single box of generic Fruit Loops?!
Less than $1.50 worth of groceries has entertained us for hours upon hours.

Have you ever done anything fun or educational with Fruit Loops? If so, I’d love to hear about it!

One thought on “25 Fruit Loop Activities”

  1. I found your blog at Homeschool Creations. How wonderfully creative your ideas with the fruit loops are! Who knew there were 25 things you could do with them? I can’t wait to get a moment to come back and check out some of your other ideas!

    Reply

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