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Halloween-Inspired Science Experiments 

Halloween season is upon us--and EducationWorld has provided innovative and educational ways to incorporate this spooky holiday into the classroom. Why not have your students be wacky, crazy scientists? 

Turn your classroom into a laboratory and introduce some of these fun Halloween-inspired science experiments.

Kid Mad Scientist

 

Make Your Own Slime:

 Provided by ScienceBob.com, students can make their own oooey and gooey slime with this easy experiment!

What you need:

  • Elmer's glue
  • 2 disposable cups
  • Food coloring
  • Water Borax Powder (available at most large grocery stores near the laundry detergent)
  • A plastic spoon
  • A tablespoon 

What to do:

  1. Fill one small cup with water, add a spoonful of the Borax powder, stir, and set it aside.
  2. Fill the other small cup with about 1 inch of the glue.
  3. Add three tablespoons of water to the glue and stir.
  4. Add a few drops of the food coloring and stir.
  5. Add one tablespoon of the Borax solution. Watch the slime form.
  6. Let it sit for about 30 seconds and then pull it off the spoon and play.

 

Make Some Ghost Bubbles

Also provided by ScienceBob.com, students can make eerie, foggy ghost bubbles using dry ice and a rubber sink sprayer. 

What you need:

  • A large plastic container with a wide mouth
  • A rubber sink sprayer designed to attach to a faucet with the sprayer cut off/removed. (regular wide tubing, 1 cm or wider will work as well)
  • Small bowl of bubble solution.
  • Warm Water Dry Ice – available at some grocery stores and ice suppliers
  • A glove made of fuzzy fibers. 

What to do:

  1. Drill a hole towards the top of the container that is just wide enough to fit the tube.
  2. Fit the tube into the opening with the faucet end out and secure with tape if needed.
  3. Fill the container with warm water about 1/4 full.
  4. Drop several pieces of dry ice into the water and cap the container loosely. Dry ice mist should now be coming out of the tube.
  5. Dip the end of the tube into the bubble solution and make ghost bubbles. If the mist is coming out too fast, loosen the container cap to adjust the flow.

 

Turn Water Into Blood

With this activity provided by About.com, students can turn water into "blood". 

What you need: 

  • Phenolphthalein pH indicator
  • Sodium Carbonate
  • Water
  • Two glasses
  • Stirring rod
  • Straw or pipette

What to do:

  1. Sprinkle sodium carbonate to coat the bottom of a drinking glass.
  2. Fill a second glass halfway full of water, and add 10 drops phenolphthalein indicator solution to the water. The glasses can be prepared in advance.
  3. To change water into blood, pour the water with indicator into the glass that contains the sodium carbonate. Stir the contents to mix the sodium carbonate, and the water will change from clear to red.
  4. If you like, you can use a straw to blow air into the red liquid to change it back to clear.
  5. The principle is the same as for the disappearing ink formula. Phenolphthalein is an acid-base indicator.

 

Creepy Density

Provided by ScienceSparks.com, students will see first hand how density works with an array of Halloween colors, and some plastic bugs. 

What you need:

  • Treacle
  • Golden Syrup
  • Water
  • Food coloring
  • Vegetable Oil
  • Small items to test for floating

What to do:

  1. Pour each liquid into the glass slowly starting with the treacle, then the golden syrup, followed by the water with added food coloring and the vegetable oil last.
  2. Drop a few small items in and see which layer they float on.

 

Sick Science!: Oozing Pumpkins

Watch a bunch of oozing goo explode from a jack-o-lantern's eyes and mouth in this experiment provided by Steve Spangler in Sick Science. 

 

Article by Kassondra Granata, EducationWorld Contributor