National M&M Day is October 13th!

Did you know that the M&M was the first candy in space or that they were first packaged in paper tubes? Now, there are over 400 million of these colorful candies produced every day.

Whether you're a fan of the classic milk chocolate variety or prefer some of the newer flavors like peanut butter or caramel, there's no denying that M&Ms hold a special place in the hearts of candy lovers everywhere. My favorites are peanut M&Ms. What's yours?

M&M Activities

• Predict how many of each color M&M will be in a bag. Then open and count to see how close you were. Make a graph of your results.

• Deck yourself out in the color of your favorite M&M today!

• Put M&Ms into a small clear jar and have everyone guess how many are inside.

• Create a mosaic picture with the M&Ms.

• Attach mini bags of M&Ms to individual flowers and hand them out for National M&M Day.

• Paint with M&Ms (use them like watercolor paints)

• Do M&Ms float or sink? After you find out, wait 10-15 more minutes and see what else happens to the M&M in the water!

• M&M Science experiment: place different colors of M&Ms around the edge of a white plate in whatever pattern you choose. Then, pour warm water gently onto the middle of the plate until it reaches the edges. You are not trying to cover up the M&Ms totally, just the bottoms of them. Watch what happens to the colors!

• Fastest Sorter: Get a big bag of plain M&Ms. See who can sort the most M&Ms by color in one minute.

Things to eat M&Ms with:

• Cookies

• Yogurt

• Brownies

• Pancakes

• Trail mix

• Chex mix

• On top of iced cupcakes

• Cake

• On ice cream or frozen yogurt

• Granola or granola bars

• Anything with peanut butter

• Popcorn

M&M Bark

Ingredients

• Semi-sweet chocolate chips

• Candy melts (optional) whatever colors you want

• M&Ms

• Sprinkles

Instructions

1. In a microwave-safe dish, melt the chocolate chips in 30-second increments, stirring after each interval. This normally takes a little more than a minute.

2. Pour the melted chocolate onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Using a spoon or spatula, smooth into a thin layer.

3. If you are using candy melts, put them in separate bowls and melt them the same way in the microwave. Melted candy coating should be poured on top of the chocolate layer.

4. Swirl the other colors into the chocolate using a toothpick or knife.

5. Add sprinkles and M&Ms

6. put the bark in the fridge until it's solid enough to cut.

7. When the bark has hardened, cut into smaller pieces and enjoy

Play our M&M Slide puzzle here!