Halloween STEAM Centers

Halloween STEAM Centers

Hey y'all! Fall is in the air! I know it's still over 100 degrees in much of the country, but that won't stop me from drinking my salted caramel mocha from Starbucks and dreaming of pumpkins!

Now we all know academics are TOUGH during the week of Halloween. And this year, Halloween falls right smack dab in the middle of the week. So rather than fight it, our class is going to embrace it!

In our class, science centers are the norm. We LOVE the independence and exploring things on our own. Why should Halloween be any different.

On Monday, we read "Five Little Pumpkins" and check out what happens to candy pumpkins when we dissolve them in different kinds of liquids.

Tuesday through Thursday, we rotate centers. We build bridges from popsicle sticks to hold our 5 little pumpkins.

Totally gross out your students by building a maze for an eyeball! You can use a marble or draw an eye on a ping pong ball. Either way, your students will love building their own maze and trying to get the ball from one end to the other. Talk about problem solving in action!

We race spiders across the table by blowing into straws. We learn about force and motion by creating our own wind. If you can't find plain plastic spiders, you can cut the ring part off some spider rings. 

We learn about engineering and anatomy by building skeletons out of cotton swabs. This picture was of a cat skeleton but it got a little wonky. :-p

We learn about light and shadows by making shadow puppets out of construction paper. Oh the excitement! Who doesn't love shadow puppets? Wanna blow your students' minds? Teach them how to make optical illusions! They will still be making these long into next semester. What better way to teach a love of learning and exploration!

On Fridays, we do whole class experiments/activities. For this week, we'll be making catapults and launching marshmallow ghosts into a cup. I purchase plastic cauldrons from the dollar store for this activity. In this activity, students learn physics, momentum, velocity, problem-solving, teamwork and so much more. It's a win-win.

To check out the full Halloween STEAM Unit, click here. I hope you found some new ideas for your classroom. 

I'm always adding new resources and teaching ideas so be sure to follow me on TPT to stay up to date on all the good stuff. Have a wonderful week and I'll talk to you soon. 

Stay cozy,