Looking for a fun way to engage your students while practicing place value skills? The Case of the Cursed Candy Math Mystery is a Halloween-themed math activity that will have your students solving puzzles, cracking codes, and practicing essential math skills—all while trying to stop a Halloween monster from turning the town's children into real monsters!

What’s the Mystery?

It’s Halloween in the spooky town of Mathigan, and something is terribly wrong with the candy being handed out. When the children eat it, they are transformed into real Halloween monsters! One of the town’s monsters has cursed the candy, and it's up to your students to solve the case. Using math skills, students will work through five clues to narrow down a list of ten suspects and discover who is behind the curse.

Skills Covered:

This mystery focuses on key place value skills aligned with 4th-grade standards:

• Finding the Value of a Digit in multi-digit numbers
• Comparing Multi-Digit Numbers to determine larger or smaller values
• Adding and Subtracting Multi-Digit Numbers with and without regrouping up to the hundred thousands
• Rounding Numbers up to the nearest hundred thousand

How It Works:

Students begin by reading the backstory of the cursed candy mystery, where they learn about the strange happenings in Mathigan and the list of 10 possible suspects, each with unique motives and magical items. Then, they solve math problems to unlock clues. Each correctly solved problem helps eliminate suspects from the list, bringing them closer to identifying the culprit behind the curse.

What’s Included:

• Introductory Backstory: A captivating narrative sets the stage for the mystery and introduces the town and the list of suspects, each with a reason to curse the candy.
• 10 Suspects: Students will investigate ten Halloween-themed suspects, each with a motive, a magical item used to make the curse, and an item that can break it.
• 5 Clue Sheets: Each clue sheet provides math problems that students must solve to gather more information. The math problems include place value comparisons, multi-digit addition and subtraction, and rounding to the nearest hundred thousand.
• Answer Keys: Clear answer keys for all clues ensure teachers can quickly check student work and guide them in the right direction.
• Flexible Use: This mystery can be used as a whole group, small group, or independent activity. It’s perfect for review before tests, early finishers, or as a fun, educational activity leading up to Halloween.

Why You’ll Love It:

This Halloween math mystery combines the excitement of a spooky story with important place value practice, making it a perfect way to keep students engaged while learning. The hands-on, puzzle-solving nature of this activity will capture their imaginations and provide opportunities for both individual and collaborative learning. Best of all, students will be having so much fun solving the mystery, they won’t even realize how much math practice they’re getting!

Use The Case of the Cursed Candy Math Mystery to make your Halloween lessons memorable and educational this year!