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Halloween is just around the corner! That means children are getting excited about the costumes, candy, and other exciting activities that surround the holiday. One way to increase student engagement in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) lessons is to introduce themed activities into the classroom that connect with the current season.
In this article, STEM Sports® has curated a list of spooky Halloween themed STEM activities for middle school students. These easy-to-set-up lessons are perfect for the classroom or at home. If your school does not celebrate Halloween, there are still many great fall themed activities in this article that can be incorporated into the classroom!
This screen-free Halloween coding activity introduces students to basic coding concepts while exercising their critical thinking and problem solving skills. As students work through this activity, they are working on a puzzle that can only be solved by using the correct code.
Learn more at STEAM Powered Family
Build Your Own Spider Web is a great Halloween STEAM activity to get students thinking creatively about nature and excited about the upcoming holiday. During this lesson, students will create their own unique spider web using yarn, creating the perfect time for educators to talk about the ecosystem, entomology, and the science behind spider webs.
Learn more at The Learning Hypothesis
Students will create Oobleck and use the substance to work through each of the states of matter. This hands-on science activity uses Halloween to teach key concepts aligned with Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) and Common Core State Standards (CCSS).
Learn more at Teachers Pay Teachers
What is the saddest part of Halloween? Having to take down the decorations! By implementing the Rotting Pumpkin Investigation, educators can prolong the holiday fun and turn the rotting pumpkin into an educational experience. Students start by carving their pumpkins and then checking back in daily, as well as writing observations about their rotting pumpkins.
Learn more at Little Bins Little Hands
Does your school not allow Halloween themed events or celebrations? This STEM activity can be altered to either Halloween or fall. Students use their chemistry skills to create bath bombs they can use at home or give to someone as a gift.
A tip for educators: The more fun decorations students have to add to their bath bombs, the more exciting the science activity can be!
Learn more at Little Bins Little Hands
The Flying Ghost Tea Bag experiment introduces students to convection currents and density during this fun Halloween lesson. Using adult supervision, students light their tea bag ghosts on fire to learn more about the science of heat and the impact chemical reactions have on everyday substances.
Learn more at STEAM Powered Family
Have you had students create paper airplanes and compete against each other to see who had the best design? Similarly, the Paper Bat STEM lesson through Engineering Design Process (EDP) to compare their design to other students to troubleshoot how to make a more effective design.
Learn more at Feel Good Teaching
Oozing and fizzing science experiments are a great addition to any science curriculum. In the fall/Halloween time, pumpkins are a great vessel to create eruptions. This festive spin on the classic volcano experiment will have students engaged and excited about the lesson.
Learn more at The STEM Laboratory
The Lego Gummy Mummies STEM activity is a great opportunity to introduce cross-curricular learning methods into the classroom. This experiment explores desiccation and connects seamlessly with lessons about mummification and Ancient Egypt.
Learn more at STEAM Powered Family
If your students love the Gummy Mummies project, try implementing the Mummifying Apples STEM experiment.
The Dissolving Candy Corn experiment gets students excited and engaged in science. Students will learn to write hypotheses and observations as they watch which liquid dissolves the candy corn fastest.
Learn more at Little Bin Little Hands
The Zombie Apocalypse Project is aligned with Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) for grades 6-8 students. Throughout the lesson, students engineer their own city to help protect the remaining humans in the zombie apocalypse. This fun, unique Halloween STEM lesson introduces key science and engineering concepts to students over the course of multiple days or weeks.
Learn more at Teachers Pay Teachers
The Halloween Density Jar puts a twist on the traditional density jar experiment. Using four (4) different liquids and various science props (eyeballs, spiders, fangs, etc), students will learn more about density and how it relates to everyday life.
Learn more at STEAMsational
Ghost Bottle Rockets require limited supplies and are easy to implement with students. It is recommended that this experiment is done outdoors to avoid messy classroom floors or broken objects! Students will make their bottle rockets shoot into the air by creating a chemical reaction between water, cornstarch, and Alka-Seltzer.
Learn more at Growing a Jeweled Rose
Regardless of age or STEM skill level, all students love slime! Vampire blood slime is a great way to celebrate the Halloween season with middle school students. This non-toxic slime is easy to create, connects to science concepts, and is a fun way to get students engaged in STEM lessons.
Learn more at Messy Little Monster
The Halloween Monster Eye experiment uses common household items to create squishy monster eyes. Students will learn about chemistry and chemical reactions while they watch the shell strip away from their egg, exposing the squishy inner layer.
For advanced students: Write out the chemical reaction formula for this experiment. See the correct reaction formula below:
CaCO3 + 2 HC2H3O2 → Ca(C2H3O2)2 + H2O + CO2
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The pumpkin density experiment is a classic fall STEM lesson that is easy to implement with middle school students. During the lesson, students explore how the different parts of a pumpkin vary in density.
Learn more at STEAMsational
The Leaf Chromatography experiment is the perfect lesson to implement with students during the fall. During the lesson, students will learn about all of the hidden colors within a leaf, in addition to photosynthesis and wavelengths of light.
Learn more at Connecticut Science Center
The Pumpkin Clock experiment is the Halloween spin on the classic potato clock experiment. It is helpful to purchase the Green Science Potato Clock Kit and two pumpkins to ensure there are no missing materials. Once the materials are ready to use, students will work together to create electrical circuits and make the clock run!
Learn more about the Potato Clock STEM experiment
The Halloween escape room project allows students to exercise their problem solving, collaboration, and teamwork skills while working through the lesson. The exercise starts with an explanation video to solving riddles and puzzles to eventually making it out of the escape room and away from the zombie teacher.
Learn more at Teachers Pay Teachers
STEM Sports® is an education company committed to creating quality STEM curricula for K-8 students. As a company, we believe that schools, educators, educational companies, and parents are responsible for ensuring students have the tools they need to succeed at STEM throughout their education and future careers. The first step to supporting students in their STEM literacy journey is knowledge.
To learn more about STEM and how to implement STEM lessons with your children or students, read these blogs:
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