🍭 The Candy Factory: facilitator kit
Kids 4–8 · 15–25 minutes · Level: Easy · 6 stages
Opening story: The big machine at the candy factory is stuck, and without it there are no sweets for the party! Only a team that solves 4 riddles will find the start-up code. The factory manager, Mrs Lollipop, left sweet clues in every department.
Setup
- A bag of sweets for the surprise
- A box to be the “machine”
- A lemon or a drawing of one
- A piece of chocolate (for the riddle and the prize)
- Print the 6 stage cards and put them in order, or hide each card around the room so every answer leads to the next one.
- Read the opening story to the group and start a timer.
- When the group gets stuck, give one hint from the table, one at a time.
- Prepare two jars with 5 real sweets in each for counting.
- For station 4, line up 6 real sweets on the table and let the children count them aloud.
- Put the prize bag inside the “machine” box and open it only after the code.
Answers and hints (facilitator only)
| Stage | Answer / code | Hints |
|---|---|---|
| 1. The sweet department | 10 | All the fingers on both hands! |
| 2. The lemon drop | yellow | What color is the sun in drawings? |
| 3. Mrs Lollipop’s riddle | chocolate | You can also make a hot drink out of it in winter. |
| 4. Warm-up route · Counting the stars | 4 | Point at each star and say a number out loud. · Start at 1 and keep going to the last star. |
| 5. Warm-up route · The color lock | red | Think of a tomato. What color is it? · 🍅 |
| 6. Starting the machine | 6 | Point at each sweet and count aloud: 1, 2, 3… |
Read at the end: BZZZZ! The machine started up, and out came… a lollipop shaped like the birthday child! Happy birthday from everyone at the factory!