25 Easy Halloween Science Experiments for Kids

Parents and teachers, here are 25+ easy Halloween science experiments for kids! These quick and easy experiments will help you use the holiday as a fun opportunity to explore some of our favorite topics in science. These experiments explore things like potential and kinetic energy, what happens when you mix vinegar and baking soda, or how the ancient Egyptians made mummies.

These Halloween science activities are great for the classroom or at home and are sure to get any ghoul excited! From creating exploding ghosts to making fake blood slime, these spooky experiments will have you ready to celebrate the Halloween season in style. Happy experimenting!

Halloween Experiments with Candy

These candy experiments are perfect for October when there’s candy a-plenty. It’s a great way to use leftover candy after the holiday, too.

Dissolving Candy Pumpkins

This simple experiment only takes two minutes to set up, but kids will get a kick out of watching those sweet, sugary candy pumpkins dissolve in different liquids, such as milk, vinegar, oil, and water. You could also try this idea with candy corn!

Halloween Candy Sink or Float

Does your favorite Halloween candy sink or float? Try it and see! Use the record sheet to record your predictions and observations. Try it with wrapped and unwrapped candies. This is a fun way for kids to learn about the scientific method (and enjoy a little snack, too).

Halloween Pumpkin Skittles Experiment

You may have tried the warm water and Skittles experiment before, but this one has a lovely pumpkin-themed twist. Use green and orange Skittles to outline a pumpkin shape, add the warm water, and watch the colors bleed to make a beautiful pumpkin.

Candy Catapult

Build a candy catapult to launch some of your Halloween candy into the air! Making catapults is always a hit with kids. It’s a captivating way to learn about potential energy and kinetic energy.

Halloween Jello Worms

Try the Jello straw challenge to make gross, creepy (but tasty!) Halloween Jello worms. They’re perfect for a Halloween party. Kids will love this Halloween STEM activity for October.

Pumpkin Science Experiments

Use any of these fun pumpkin projects for a lesson on pumpkins. The life cycle experiment is especially good, but requires a lot of patience and time. Fizzing pumpkins are always a hit!

Pumpkin Life Cycle Experiment

Watch a pumpkin decompose and then regrow with this fascinating Halloween experiment. This life cycle of a pumpkin experiement is a long-term project that will teach kids a lot about plant decomposition and how new seedlings can form from the seeds in the soil enriched by decomposed material.

Oozing Pumpkins

Carve a pumpkin together and then make it ooze with a colorful baking soda and vinegar solution with added dish soap and food coloring to make it extra fizzy and colorful. Watching the fizzy bubbles ooze out of the pumpkin’s eyes, nose, and mouth is such fun! It’s a neat take on the usual pumpkin volcano experiment.

Pumpkin Spinning Tops

Have you ever seen a jack-o-lantern breakdance? Now you can with these cute spinning pumpkins made with wood spinning tops. Try to get your pumpkins to spin and twirl on the stem—it’ll look like they’re dancing!

Pumpkin Cup Baking Soda Vinegar Experiment

Don’t have real pumpkins on hand? No worries. Make your own out of orange paper cups. Then, add those to your tray for a classic baking soda and vinegar experiment that comes pouring out of the eyes and mouths of your paper cup pumpkins.

Fizzing Pumpkins Experiment

Here’s another variation on fizzing pumpkins, this time using pumpkins made out of baking soda. You’ll need a silicone mold to make them, but that will come in handy for making other Halloween goodies, too.

Fun Halloween Science for Kids

Trick or treating is fun, but your kids will forget all about that candy (at least for a while) with these jaw-dropping Halloween experiments and chemical reactions. October is the perfect time to get future “mad scientists” excited about chemistry, physics, and more!

Exploding Baggie Ghosts

This is one of our favorite Halloween science activities on the list. We’ve tried different variations on the exploding baggie trick, but drawing a ghost on the bag makes it spooky and fun! Watch the ghost get bigger and bigger until—KABOOM!—it explodes.

Monster Eyes Egg Science

Have you ever tried the rubber egg experiment? That’s what this is, but in keeping with the holiday theme by making it a monster eyes version. Make black and orange “rubber” eggs that look like monster eyes while learning all about the science of osmosis.

Disappearing Skulls Experiment

Grab some packing peanuts for this spooky science project! You’ll decorate the packing peanuts like skulls, add them to water, and see what happens. Are they biodegradable or not? Another fun variation is to try dissolving them in different liquids.

Grow Your Own Monster

Dr. Frankenstein isn’t the only person who can create monsters. Now you can make your own with this fun balloon experiment. Draw the monster’s face, place it over the bottle of vinegar/baking soda solution, and watch him grow and grow. It’s alive! Well, not really, but it sure is fun pretending!

Apple Mummies

Learn about mummification with this neat science project. You’ll compare and contrast various desiccants (materials that dry things out) to see which is most effective.

Diving Ghost Experiment

This ghost in a bottle experiment is sure to get lots of ooohs and ahhhhs from the kids. It’s a cartesian diver experiment with a festive Halloween twist. Watch the dancing ghost as it moves up and down in the bottle or jar, seemingly on its own.

Witches Brew Science

Brew up a fun potion with this witch’s brew experiment. Find out which potions fizz the best using baking soda, citric acid, vinegar, dish soap, and water to create different combinations. A little bit of color and some candy eyeballs make the mixtures look spookier.

Black Glitter Slime

Slime may make you crazy, but kids can learn a lot about chemistry and physics by making slime! This black, glittery version is perfect for Halloween. Add some skulls or spiders to the mix to make it extra creepy.

Halloween Shooters

Work in a little Halloween physics with these cute bat, Frankentstein, and ghost rockets made out of paper, straws, and tape. Lots of factors determine how well your chracters fly, such as their shape, weight, etc. Lighter and more aerodynamic characters should fly better. Here’s a little more science behind straw rockets.

Spooky Ghost Sounds

Have some Halloween fun with physics. Use hex nuts and balloons to make balloon ghosts that emit a spooky sound. Your balloon may even pop due to heat and friction from the nut, but that just makes it all the more interesting!

Oozing Blood Slime

Here’s another Halloween slime recipe that’s super spooky! Pair it with a large, empty syringe and watch it ooze out the tip. Creepy, right?

Fizzing Ghosts Experiment

Make Halloween moon dough and turn it into a fizzing ghost experiment with a bit of vinegar to get things bubbling. The kids will shape their moon dough into ghosts (adding candy eyes and mouths, perhaps) that will then fizzle away when the eruption begins.

Halloween Thaumatropes

Do you know about the persistence of vision? That’s the concept at play here when you make these cute ghost-themed thaumatropes. Your retinas keep responding to images for a short time after you’ve seen them, and when a new one is presented, your brain can blend the two images together. Here’s a great resource behind the thaumatrope science to help explain to your kids what’s happening as they play with their newly created “catch the ghost” toys.

Monster Lab

Create a monster lab using household items. All you need is water, oil, antacid tablets, and a few other materials to make a spooky lab beaker lava lamp. It’s a lot of fun and kids love the cool lava-like effect.

Brain in a Bag Surgery Experiment

Become a mad scientist and learn about how plastic creates a seal around objects with this brain in a bag experiment. It’s incredible how the bag with sharp pencils driven through it doesn’t leak! Once you’ve studied it, pull the pencils from the bag, and watch as the “brain” leaks and oozes.

As you’ve probably guessed, these Halloween activities are not meant to scare or frighten your kids. Rather, they should be fun and educational for all involved! We hope that this list of 25 easy Halloween science experiments has provided you with some inspiration for how to make the most out of this fun holiday in your classroom, homeschool, or just to have some educational fun with the kids.

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