Do it yourself Educational and Fangtastic Halloween tricks your kids will go gaga for

Do it yourself EDUCATIONAL and FANGTASTIC Halloween tricks!! If you're  in the market for creating a Halloween adventure of your own and incorporating a bit of science into the mix because really- it can't just be about the CANDY CORN check out these TOTALLY Fun hands-on science activities from Champions Science Adventures to engage your child in discovery learning.

 

FIRST UP: Kids can challenge themselves and solve these terrifyingly fun visual puzzles below (click on the pumpkin)

They must answer all questions correctly and complete the entire survey to earn their reward.

Keep reading for some Do it yourself EDUCATIONAL and FANGTASTIC Halloween tricks!

TTAAKKEE TTHHEE ADDVVEENNTTUURREE HOOMEE:: CCAANNDDYY CCHHRROOMAATTOOGGRRAAPPHHYY By Science Adventures™ Andy the Science Wiz

What you will need:
Bag of M&M's
Coffee Filter
Scissors
Clear plastic cup
Water

(And you can wear these FUN  Halloween clips for extra spooky fun!)

Chromatography is a way of separating chemicals that are combined together in a mixture. Look at the ingredients on the back of the packet of M&M's. How many yellow dyes are listed? Why are their 4 yellow dyes in the ingredients but only one yellow colored M&M?

In chromatography the chemicals are dissolved and placed at the bottom of something absorbent like a coffee filter. As water is pulled through the coffee filter by capillary action the different chemicals will separate out. Some chemicals will dissolve quickly and will travel up the paper with the water while others will want to stick to the paper and stay low. When looking at mixtures of dyes you will see color trails for the different dyes used.

What to do:
Take the coffer filter and cut it into rectangular strips about 1 inch wide and long enough to reach from the bottom of your cup and fold over the rim. Fill the cup with about ½ inch of water. Select a color of M&M. Dip the edge of the M&M into the water for a few seconds. While it is still wet draw colored line across one end of the filter paper about ¼ inch from the bottom. Place the filter paper in the cup so that the bottom touched the water but the colored line is above it. Fold the top end of the filter paper over the rim to hold the filter in place or use a small piece of tape. Let it sit for a few minutes and observe what happens. Repeat for other colors.

And don't forget to set up your spooky science environment with some Spooky Halloween Decorations!

We love these Boo bats

You can Add to your Halloween decor with the Electric Cauldron with Smoke. This eclectic cauldron decoration is artfully constructed and features a skull and cross bones face, comes with LED lighting, and emits smoke.

 

How many of the M&M's had yellow in their color? What you are seeing is the different dyes that make up each candy's color separating out on the filter paper. Rarely are pigments of any kind pure color they are usually mixtures of pigments designed to give the right hue. Try this experiment with Skittles!

SSPPOOOOKKYY GGHHOOSSTT CCUUPP By Science Adventures™ Andy the Science Wiz

What you will need:
1 Paper 3.5oz Dixie cup
1 White plastic bag or white cloth
1 Small Toy Metal Spring
2 ft of kitchen string

Whether you are being told to clean your room or crinkling a candy wrapper, sound is caused by vibrations. If you place two fingers on either side of your throat as you talk you can feel your vocal cords vibrating. Twang a ruler on a desk or pluck a rubber band, whenever something is made to vibrate it pushes and pulls on the air around it creating sound waves that travel to our ears. With just a few vibrations and a little science you can create your very own spooky Halloween sound effect.

And don't forget to decorate to help ypur kids get in a Fangtastic mood with these SKULL LIGHTS! 

What to do:
Take the spring and tie the string to one end of it.
Allow the spring to dangle freely by holding the string.
Bump the spring against the side of a table. What do you hear?
You did not hear much because the spring's wire is so thin and does not move very much air creating sound our ears can pick up.
What you need to do is get the sound directly from the spring to your ear and not use the air.
Bang the spring again, but this time hold the end of the string against your ear. What did you hear?
Spooky, isn't it! Now the vibrations travel up the string directly to your ear so the sound is a lot louder.
Now that you know the spring can make a cool sound, it's time to make an amplifier so everyone can hear it.
Remove the string.
Then take the cup and poke a hole in the middle of the paper cup's bottom using a pencil.
Hold the cup upside down and carefully feed the end of the spring up into the cup. The goal is to get the tip of the spring through the hole in the bottom of the cup. You may need to bend the tip of the spring to make this easier.
When the tip pokes through the hole feed about ½ inch of spring through the hole and tape it flat to the bottom of the cup.
Shake the cup. What do you hear?

Now when the spring vibrates, the vibrations are transmitted to the cup. The whole cup vibrates and moves a lot more air than just the spring so the sound is louder.
To complete the spooky cup cover it with a white plastic bag or a piece of white cloth. Add some ghost eyes and you have your very own groaning ghoul to carry around with you on Halloween.

And here are some fun experiment kits to bring some spooky elements to your Halloween festivities!

With this kit Kids can create their glow-in-the-dark toys and science experiments, from molding bouncing balls to watch the pressure build in erupting colors. You will be astonished at your ability to create and understand the basics of chemical compounds and reactions.

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