Halloween STEM Activities: Spooky Fun to Delight and Educate Kids

September 23, 2024 / Heather Reyes

Halloween is one of the most creative times of the year, and it's a great opportunity to engage in fun and engaging STEM activities. During this spooky season, there are many activities that can spark children's interest and imagination. They may have already chosen their most terrifying costumes, or they may be eagerly anticipating the candy they will soon receive. Whatever their favourite part of Halloween, you can leverage this natural appeal to make STEM learning more enjoyable than usual.

Why should you incorporate STEM into your children's Halloween plans?

STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. Although these disciplines are distinct, the skills they impart, such as problem-solving, critical thinking, and innovation, are often similar. Incorporating STEM activities into your children's Halloween plans not only develops these crucial skills but also ignites their passion for STEM, opening up more possibilities for their future academic and career choices.

Halloween STEM activities are a great way to get kids engaged in hands-on learning.

They will be able to see firsthand how different scientific principles work and how to use interdisciplinary knowledge to solve problems. Hands-on activities will help children remember what they've learned to a greater extent than dry textbook content.
Halloween STEM activities can help students better understand complex concepts and increase their engagement in the activities.

For example, if you want to help children understand the human body structure, sewing human organs in the spooky Halloween atmosphere would be an engaging way to illustrate this concept.
STEM activities encourage creative expression, which aligns perfectly with the Halloween holiday atmosphere.

The spooky and imaginative atmosphere of Halloween can better spark children's natural curiosity and drive to explore. If you want to encourage your kids to try out or develop a passion for STEM-related creativity, Halloween presents an excellent opportunity to do so.

Engaging Halloween-themed STEM activities

From disgusting slimes, fake blood, organ models, and all sorts of eerie little creatures or monsters, to puking pumpkins or glow-in-the-dark objects, the range of Halloween STEM activities is surprisingly extensive, all of which integrate knowledge from the diverse disciplines of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. And don't think that only older kids can enjoy the thrills of Halloween STEM creativity - children of all ages can partake in the spine-tingling STEM fun.

You can use glow-in-the-dark experiments to elicit a sense of wonder from a 3-year-old child; creating glow-in-the-dark x-ray models and sewing organ projects can ignite the creative passion of your 5-year-old; the magical capillary action and cactus monster experiments can astound a 7-year-old; or you can stage a Pepper's Ghost Illusion to make a 9-year-old or older fall in love with STEM.

Get ready for a spooktacular Halloween filled with exciting STEM activities perfect for kids aged 3-12! If you're looking to bring thrilling, hands-on learning into your home this Halloween season, you're in the right place. Dive into our top suggestions for easy-to-prepare, spooky fun that will inspire young minds to explore and discover!

Halloween STEM Activities for Younger Children

DIY Lava Lamp

Get ready to ignite your child's creativity with magical colours! This fascinating DIY Lava Lamp STEM activity is very simple but will amaze children! Watching bright colours and swirling bubbles dance in a homemade lava lamp will surely light up your child's Halloween night.

You only need water, vegetable oil, Alka-Seltzer tablets, and food colouring to dive into the world of STEM magic. Children will learn about the concept of density, colours, and some chemical reactions in this activity. You can also use a flashlight or LED light for a brighter display effect.

A group of colourful jars from a STEM activity

DIY Spooky Glowing Flowers

For younger children, anything that glows always captures their attention. Try making some flowers that emit an eerie phosphorescence at home, adding a spooky and mysterious atmosphere to your Halloween!

This activity is also very easy to prepare and operate. You only need to pick some white flowers from the garden, a highlighter pen, a cup filled with water, and a UV light. Soak the stem of the flower in a cup of water with the highlighter ink core, wait for a few hours, and voila!

A green flower from a STEM project with a black background

A green flower from a STEM project in a dark room

If your work is very busy and you really don't have time to do various preparations, then the following STEM activities will be perfect for you. They have packaged all the materials, tools, and knowledge needed for Halloween-themed STEM activities and deliver them directly to your home.

Anatomy (for ages 5+)

Imagine, on a Halloween night, a person with all their internal organs exposed, slowly approaching you... That would be a terrifying sight!

A young girl wearing an apron with a colorful human organ illustration from a STEM project, playfully holding a blue fabric eye mask over her head, looking at the camera with a mischievous smile.

In the Anatomy STEM Box, children will handcraft human organs and assemble them into a wearable organ apron. Through this process, they will practice sewing to improve their fine motor skills and concentration, while also learning to identify 6 human organ types and their locations.
Make a glowing skeleton. Through a simulated X-ray experiment, help children understand what X-rays are and their basic principles of operation.
Read a science magazine about the human anatomy. Children will learn about human organs and bones, why the heart beats, the composition of the human body, and another Halloween-like holiday - Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead).
Try a STEM science experiment that's perfect for Halloween - because it's quite "bloody" - a simulated heart pumping blood experiment. Through the experiment, observe and understand how the heart circulates blood throughout the body.
If you want a bit more colour for Halloween, the magazine will also teach you how to make human body paintings.

A playful educational STEM box for kids featuring a felt apron with colourful, cartoon-like human organs, a felt brain, a skeleton, and other anatomical elements. The STEM kit is laid out on a bright yellow surface, suggesting a creative and engaging learning experience.

Capillary Action (for ages 6+)

If you want to try something new for your children's Halloween, or you want to be more involved in their Halloween activities, the Capillary Action STEM Box could be a great choice.

A young girl with long, curly hair is sitting at a table, happily assembling a wooden toy plant from a STEM box kit. She is holding a small green leaf piece in her hand, and her smile suggests she is enjoying the process. The table is covered in colorful craft supplies, including bottles of liquid, suggesting a science project.

Try making colour-changing paper flowers using the capillary action phenomenon. Once children understand the scientific principles behind capillary action, they can get creative and make colour-changing pumpkins, colour-changing ghosts, or anything else they want to create for Halloween.
Create a Halloween-themed cactus monster decoration. In this activity, children will learn STEM knowledge from multiple disciplines, such as learning to create new colours through colour mixing, and using the capillary action phenomenon to colour the monster.
Create a balancing cactus game that the whole family can play. Invite family and friends to play together, adding some STEM fun to your Halloween festivities.
Through the amazing anti-gravity waterfall experiment and the blooming flowers experiment, further understand the concepts of capillary action and surface tension of water.
Read the included science magazine to learn about capillary phenomena in everyday life, tree biology and plant science, the science of water molecules, capillary action in fibres and textiles, and other STEM interdisciplinary knowledge.

A colourful and playful science kit for kids, featuring a cactus toy, felt cactus, a book titled Capillary Action, colourful liquid in glass bottles, and paper flowers. The STEM kit is arranged on a white background, creating a clean and inviting aesthetic. The overall mood is educational and fun, suggesting a hands-on learning experience.

Pepper's Illusion (for ages 9+)

Amaze your friends this Halloween with Pepper's Illusion STEM Box Try your hand at recreating this historic, genius-level magic trick. If a rotating-eyed owl is impressive enough, can you imagine the reaction of your friends when they witness the eye actually disappearing?

Through the construction of the owl and illusion box STEM activities, children will develop problem-solving skills and resilience. This will help them learn to think like engineers.
Did you know? Pepper's Illusion was previously also known as Pepper's Ghost. Children can learn about the scientific principles behind Pepper's Illusion, as well as the interesting history of using Pepper's Illusion to create ghostly apparitions, by reading the accompanying science magazine.
Understand the underlying working principles of modern technologies such as teleprompters, virtual avatars, and smart glasses, and learn about the science-driven nature of contemporary technology.
Expand and Explore. Children can also try to modify the illusion box to turn it into a projection box, allowing this STEM activity to have greater real-world applications.

A Tinkerers STEM box featuring a Pepper's Illusion kit. The box includes a partially assembled cardboard owl illusion box, an instruction booklet, and various other components, including a small LED light, a few white balls, and a blue plastic piece. The kit is laid out on a bright blue background, suggesting a fun and engaging project.

Tinkerer STEAM Box provides a variety of science, technology, engineering, art, and math activities and experiments related to Halloween, offering an excellent opportunity for children to engage in STEM learning at home. This Halloween, you can easily start these fun STEM activities with your kids without any prior preparation! Subscribe to the Tinkerer STEAM Box now to combine the festive joy of Halloween with meaningful learning, and help your children fall in love with STEM in this "spooky" atmosphere!

Why not sprinkle some Halloween magic on your favorite theme boxes? Transform them into unique, spooky creative activities that will bring a dash of fun to your home!

Check out these exciting Halloween inspirations featuring "Air Cannon" and "Chemical Tornado." We hope they spark your creativity!

Subscribe to Tinkerer STEAM Box today and blend the festive spirit of Halloween with meaningful learning. Let your children dive into a "thrilling" atmosphere and fall in love with STEM like never before!