5 spooky, ooky STEM activities for Halloween

<h2>There&&num;8217&semi;s no better time of year to get creative with classroom ideas than Halloween&period;<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<h4>Whether you&&num;8217&semi;re teaching chemistry to senior schoolers&comma; or want to inspire young primary students with STEM activities&comma; here&&num;8217&semi;s a few fun ideas to share&colon;<&sol;h4>&NewLine;<h2>1&period; Crime scene investigation<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p>Concoct a classroom crime &&num;8211&semi; using your best storytelling pizzazz &&num;8211&semi; that students can investigate over the course of a lesson &lpar;or two&comma; depending on the &&num;8216&semi;crime&&num;8217&semi;&excl;&rpar;&period; Everyone in the class is a prime suspect&excl; Students can collect and analyse evidence&comma; such as fingerprints&comma; handwriting and perhaps thread&comma; to compare with evidence you present as &&num;8216&semi;found at the scene of the crime&&num;8217&semi;&period; Done in smaller groups&comma; individually or as a whole class activity&comma; this is a fun way to learn and open dialogue about an array of things from law to forensic science&comma; history&comma; the ethics of biometrics&comma; and more&period; <a href&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;discoveryeducation&period;com&sol;teachers&sol;free-lesson-plans&sol;forensic-detectives-who-did-it&period;cfm"><strong>Source&colon; Discovery Education&period; <&sol;strong><&sol;a><&sol;p>&NewLine;<h3><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;sciencelearn&period;org&period;nz&sol;resources&sol;211-dna-detective">Related activity&colon; DNA Detective&comma; Science Learning Hub&period; <&sol;a><&sol;h3>&NewLine;<h2>2&period; Bloody mess<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p>Who can make the best fake blood&quest; This is a fun challenge for younger students who might like to taste their creations&comma; or older students who might want to use their fake blood in a film or art project&period; Blood splatter analysis could be another fun activity &&num;8211&semi; consistency&comma; colour&comma; smell&comma; clotting ability&semi; there are a bunch of different ways to measure the success of each mixture&period; Winner takes home a spooky treat and enters the hallowed hall of classroom halloween fame&period; <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;fizzicseducation&period;com&period;au&sol;Free&plus;experiments&sol;Human&plus;Body&sol;Make&plus;tasty&plus;blood&period;html"><strong>Source&colon; Fizzics Education&period; <&sol;strong><&sol;a><&sol;p>&NewLine;<h3><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;icanteachmychild&period;com&sol;gross-science-experiments">Related activity&colon; Gross Science Experiments&comma; icanteachmychild&period;com&period;<&sol;a><&sol;h3>&NewLine;<h2>3&period; Explosion in the chemistry lab <&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p>Put a ghostly spin on the old &&num;8216&semi;model volcano&&num;8217&semi; experiment by inviting students to construct skulls&comma; pumpkins&comma; or anything their horrifying hearts desire out of various materials&period; After sneaking in a mixture of water&comma; vinegar&comma; washing up liquid and food colouring&comma; they can add baking soda at the optimum moment to witness the bubbling furore for themselves&period; Making &&num;8216&semi;potions&&num;8217&semi; in cauldrons&comma; inspired by their favourite books would also be a fun way to conduct this activity&semi; or using various beakers&comma; test tubes and cylinders from the science lab&period; <strong><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;scholastic&period;com&sol;teachers&sol;blog-posts&sol;lindsey-petlak&sol;halloween-mad-science-spooktacular&sol;">Source&colon; Scholastic&period; <&sol;a><&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;<h3><a href&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;growingajeweledrose&period;com&sol;2013&sol;09&sol;ghost-rockets-halloween-activity&period;html">Related activity&colon; Ghost Rockets&comma; growingajewelledrose&period;com&period; <&sol;a><&sol;h3>&NewLine;<h3><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;littlebinsforlittlehands&period;com&sol;halloween-science-experiments&sol;">Related activity&colon; Halloween Fizzing Cauldron&comma; littlebinsforlittlehands&period;com&period; <&sol;a><&sol;h3>&NewLine;<h2>4&period; Electrifying ghosts&comma; ghouls and static skeletons<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p>Experimenting with static electricity can lead to a rake of fun graveyard-themed activities&colon; just design and cut-out creatures from tissue paper and watch them jiggle and jerk under a balloon&period; How about testing out some villainous water bending tricks or experiment with what objects can be moved with static electricity&period; Older children might enjoy creating spooky mazes out of a copper tape or graphite circuit that light up an LED &&num;8211&semi; challenge groups to come up with the most creative designs&excl; <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;kiwico&period;com&sol;blog&sol;2016&sol;12&sol;12&sol;electric-science-projects-for-kids&sol;"><strong>Source&colon; Electric Science Project&comma; Kiwi Co&period; <&sol;strong><&sol;a><&sol;p>&NewLine;<h3><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;littlebinsforlittlehands&period;com&sol;halloween-popsicle-stick-catapult-stem-activity&sol;">Related activity&colon; Halloween Catapult STEM activity&comma;<&sol;a> <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;littlebinsforlittlehands&period;com&sol;halloween-popsicle-stick-catapult-stem-activity&sol;">littlebinsforlittlehands&period;com&period; <&sol;a><&sol;h3>&NewLine;<h2>5&period; Halloween clock reaction<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p>This is a visually appealing experiment for older students&period; Three clear solutions are mixed together&comma; and after a delay changes colour to orange then finally to black&period; The colouring makes it ideal for Halloween but it&&num;8217&semi;s an interesting experiment to do any time of year&excl; <&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><amp-youtube data-videoid&equals;"Tv6&lowbar;IsdnaGg" layout&equals;"responsive" width&equals;"1000" height&equals;"563"><&sol;amp-youtube><&sol;p>&NewLine;

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Rosie Clarke

Rosie is the managing editor here at Multimedia Pty Ltd, working across School News New Zealand and School News Australia. She has spent 10+ years in B2B journalism, and has spent some time over the last couple of years teaching as a sessional academic. Feel free to contact her at any time with editorial or magazine content enquiries.

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