Mad scientists everywhere enjoy these four tried-and-true, creepy-cool Halloween kids science experiments:

#1 Bubble Trouble, Oil & Water “Lava Lamp” (Chi Epsilon Mu (XEM) Chemistry Club at Austin Peay State University)

Gather This: Alka-Seltzer®, Vegetable Oil, Water, Tall Clear Container (1 or 2 liter), Food Coloring (Neon Color)

Steps:

1. “Fill the bottle about 2/3 full with oil.
2. Add food coloring for color. You want it to be fairly dark but not too dark.
3. Fill the rest of the bottle with water, but don’t fill it to the brim.
4. Add a half or quarter of an Alka-Seltzer tablet to the bottle. Watch what happens!”

#2 Fizzy Potion – Color-Changing Fun (ThoughCo)

Gather This: Clear Cup, Water, Food Coloring (or Boiled Red Cabbage), Baking Soda, Vinegar

Steps:

1. If using red cabbage: Shred and pour boiling H20 over red cabbage, let sit 10-30 minutes for color.
2. “Pour a little water and baking soda into your glass. Add food coloring to get a nice deep color.
3. When you are ready for fizzing, add a splash of vinegar.
4. You can add more vinegar, baking soda, and food coloring to keep things going. You can drink this potion, but it will taste like salty vinegar (ick). This potion can keep fizzing for quite a while.”

#3 Mad Scientist’s Foggy Brew – Edible, Too! (Kate Jones)

Gather This: Glass jars, Kool-Aid (optional sugar for taste), dry ice (1 pound per gallon of potion), and safety equipment (goggles/thick gloves). Ladle and mallet helpful but not required!

Steps:

1. Place Kool-Aid into large communal jar.
2. Fill large communal jars with water and mix well.
3. Using proper safety equipment, break dry ice into 4-6 inch chunks. (A mallet helps if you have one.)
4. Place some (but not all) dry ice chunks into the serving jar.
5. Serve immediately into separate cups (ladles help!), do not serve a cup with a chunk of dry ice in it; you can drink something that has had dry ice in it, but should not risk injury by drinking from a cup that still actively has dry ice “melting” in it (touching dry ice will result in injury).
6. Mix colors/flavors and enjoy!

#4 Borax-free Fluffy Goo (Cnet)

Gather This: Shampoo, Cornstarch, Water.

Steps:

1. “Put 1/2 cup shampoo and 1/4 cup of cornstarch in a bowl.
2. Mix well.
3. Add 3 drops of food coloring (optional).
4. Add 1 tablespoon of water and stir. Slowly add 5 more tablespoons of water, stirring well after each one.
5. Knead the slime for around 5 minutes.”

May your family enjoy a spooky safe and creepy-cool Halloween!

Find us online! #CuriOdyssey

#Spooky #Science #Halloween #Experiment