Let’s play a candy guessing game. If your house is like mine, there is always too much Halloween candy around the holiday which is why I love this idea to use Halloween candy to play a game. This homemade game works well for younger kids and will double as dessert!

Candy Cup Guessing Game
This Halloween game is very similar to the shell game played on city streets everywhere, but there’s nothing illegal about our version and it is perfect for your preschool age child.
Related: Halloween games for kids
And you don’t need a lot of items to make it. Most of them you will have already at home. Plus, it works on children’s problem solving skills and is a fantastic game to work on kids memory skills!
Supplies Needed for Candy Guessing Game
- Leftover Halloween candy
- Paper or plastic cups
Tip: Use Halloween candy you know your little one doesn’t like (in our case jelly beans), unless you want the game to turn into find the hidden candy in your child’s mouth!
How to Play This Candy Cup Guessing Game

Step 1
Have your preschooler line up her cups. Let her take her time setting up the cups since half of the fun in this game is getting everything ready.
Step 2
Then have her hide a piece of candy under one of the cups. (We’re sneaking in some fine motor skills here, too, especially if you’re working with small candy!).
Step 3
You or she can move the cups around and line them up again in a new order.
Step 4
Let your preschooler find the hidden candy.

More Games to Play With Halloween Candy
This activity provided endless entertainment for my daughter, who really enjoyed the act of lining everything up properly over and over again. It can be either a solitary activity or an interactive one, depending on your and your child’s preferences.
- After playing solo for several minutes, my daughter brought me into the game, asking me to move the cups around for her to make the game more difficult or to guess where she had hidden the candy.
- To extend this Halloween activity, use different colored cups so your child can create patterns as she lines up her row of cups.
- You could play Halloween games with your preschooler like making Candy Patterns or doing some Candy Counting, and you can also get your little ghoul to work on her memory skills by playing this Candy Under The Cup Game.
More Simple Games for Preschoolers from Kids Activities Blog
- Halloween games are fun and using the leftover candy is extra fun when you include a guessing game.
- Reading game apps for preschoolers can turn your phone into a fun learning experience.
- Check out this Halloween sensory bin! It’s so squishy and creepy!
- Make a color learning game for preschool!
- This preschool color sorting game is great for color recognition and works on fine motor skills.
- We love these preschool math games and computer games.
- Remember the old game memory? Here is a preschool memory game that will make you feel toasty inside.
- Best board games for preschool age kids. Playing is fun!
- Let’s play a preschool matching game and make the DIY file folder game.
- Preschool counting game for fun math learning.
- Play the preschool version of What is Missing?!
- Have some fun with the toilet paper mummy game.
- Try out this preschool level jack-o-lantern craft!
- This “Let Me See Your Candy Bowl” parody will make you laugh!
- Try this what is missing memory game for preschoolers!
- See what people’s different color pumpkins mean!
How do you deal with the mountains of leftover Halloween candy your children bring home? Did your preschoolers have fun with the candy guessing game?
Halloween celebration can include much more than just costumes and trick- or-treating. These easy Halloween games for kids will help to enjoy more.
Great idea! Unfortunately my three year old would make any kind of candy disappear…into her mouth,,,right away.
Haha! That happened when I brought out the Hershey’s Kisses for my daughter…she stayed away from the jelly beans, but chocolate is her weaknesses.
I really like this creative idea for a halloween kids game. I’ll have to try it with my 3 year old son.
What fun!