Top 3 Halloween STEM Activities This Season

What would you say if I told you there was an invisible force in the air drawing you closer to the center of the earth? Sounds spooky, but we’re just talking about gravity. It’s science! Science has answers to natural phenomena that when observed, could send a chill down your spine. What better way to explore STEM this Halloween than engaging in some fun experiments?

Below are some of The Top 3 of Halloween experiments you can do this year with household items and candy. It wouldn’t be Halloween without the candy!

Milky Madness

Materials:

  • 3.5 % Milk 

  • A glass bowl

  • Dish Soap 

  • Q-Tip or Pipette

  • Food colouring (MUST contain propylene glycol)

Instructions

  1. Pour a cup of the 3.5% milk into the glass bowl. 

  2. Carefully create a spooky pattern using your food colouring.

  3. Add a drop of dish soap.

  4. Watch as the milk spreads and comes to life. 

  5. Repeat with different patterns.

 
 

Explore

Have you ever noticed how much easier it is to move in a pool when you’re fully underwater versus when you are halfway in? That’s because water has very high surface tension. Surface tension is a property of liquids where their particles are attracted to one another at the surface.  

In this experiment, we manipulated surface tension using milk, food dye and dish soap. We said earlier that water has very high surface tension but so does milk. When the dye is dropped into the milk, the drops are held together because of the milk’s high surface tension.

Dish soap on the other hand is a surfactant and these types of liquids reduce surface tension! Once the dish soap is added to the mixture, the fat particles in the milk move freely, making the dye swirl around.

Marshmallow Ghouls

Ever been camping, telling ghost stories over the fire, and you notice your marshmallow swelling until it falls off the stick?! Well in this experiment, we will investigate what happens to marshmallows when they get hot.

Materials:

  • Jumbo marshmallows 

  • Paper plate

  • Food dye 

  • Paintbrush 

  • Food-safe markers (optional)

Instructions:

  1. Get your marshmallow and measure the height. 

  2. Decorate your scariest ghosts and goblins on your marshmallow.

  3. Set the marshmallows on the paper plate.

  4. Place in the microwave for 15-30 seconds. (This may vary dependent on the microwave)

  5. Watch as the marshmallows expand. 

  6. Measure the height of your marshmallow after. 

  7. Make observations on how the marshmallow changed in size what happened to the patterns after they were heated.

 
 

Explore

Believe it or not, marshmallows are made of sugar, water and a whole lot of air bubbles. When a marshmallow gets heated up, the water molecules vibrate and get hot. The heated water warms up the sugar as it gets softer. 

The sugar warms the air bubbles which move faster inside the marshmallow. As the air bubbles bounce around, they push on the walls of the bubble which expand and make the marshmallows puff up! 

Candy Corn Gone Wrong

Have you ever found yourself eating a piece of candy and wishing it wouldn't dissolve so fast in your mouth? Well, this experiment will be exploring how long it takes for candy corn to dissolve in different solution. 

Materials

  • Candy corn

  • Baking soda

  • Salt 

  • Vinegar 

  • Water 

  • 4 transparent cups 

  • Recording sheets

Instructions

  1. Label the cups: Water, Water & Salt, Water & Vinegar, Water & Baking Soda

  2. Fill the first cup with 1 cup of water. 

  3. Fill the second cup with 1 cup of water and ½ a tablespoon of salt and stir. 

  4. Fill the fourth cup with 1 cup of water and 2 tablespoons of vinegar.

  5. Fill the third cup with 1 cup of water and a tablespoon of baking soda and stir. 

  6. Place a candy corn in each cup. 

  7. Eat some chocolate while the candy corns dissolve. 

  8. Write down what you see in the observation sheet. Which solution dissolved the candy fastest?

 
 

Explore

In this experiment, we are exploring what happens when different liquids a solid are mixed together to form a solution. The solid in this case is the candy corn and the liquids are made up water and other substances.  We are seeing the candy corn dissolve in the different liquids because  the particles interact. We are looking to see which cup will dissolve the candy corn quickest. There are a few things that will make a solid dissolve faster in a particular liquid as seen below:

  • When the liquid and solid are stirred. 

  • When the liquid is warmer.

  • When the solid is made up of smaller particles with more surface area. 

When we did our experiment, we will noticed that the candy corn dissolved fastest in the water that had salt included. Did you notice something different?

Have a happy Haloween!!

Jennifer LadipoSTEM