Often we focus on parts of a whole when we work with fractions. The age old example of using a Hershey bar to illustrate this comes to mind. This teaches about breaking something into pieces and working with the fractional parts. But, sometimes fractions are wholes that are part of a group. In other words, sometimes things don't have to be broken to be part of a fraction. M&Ms can be a great way to illustrate this kind of fraction. You may have 10 M&Ms. 5 of them are blue. None of them are broken. The 5 whole blue M&Ms show the fraction 5/10 or 1/2. Many times, children only get experience with fractions that deal with broken parts. Then, when they see whole parts of a group, they do not understand. Pull out some M&Ms and practice this kind of fraction with your child. He will gladly work on his fractions if he can "clean up" the candy when he has proven that he understands.
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