Halloween candy is great!  And you can do so much with it!  Check out these ideas for how to use your candy.

Is your candy acidic? Candy pH Test
What you'll need:
Sour candy (like lemonheads, nerds, or sour gummy worms)
Skittles
M&Ms
Candy Corn
8 plastic cups
Distilled water
Measuring cup
Baking soda

How it works:
1. Taste one of each of your candies.  Order your candy by how sour it is and write down your observations.
2. Put 1/4 cup of water in four of the cups.  Place one piece of each candy in the cups (one kind of candy per cup).  These are your controls, which means you won't do anything else with them other than observe what the water does to the candies.
3. Write the letter C on each of these cups and set them aside until the end of the experiment.
4. Put 1/4 cup of water in four new cups.  Place one piece of each candy in the cups and let the candy dissolve completely.  You can crush candies that are taking too long to dissolve.  These are your variable cups, the ones you'll be working with.
5. After the candy has dissolved completely, sprinkle one tablespoon of baking soda into each of the variable cups.  The baking soda is your independent variable, the only thing that changes in the experiment.  Watch for bubbles.
6. The bubbles are your dependent variable, which is the thing that happens after you add the independent variable.  Record your observations about the bubbles.  The greater the amount of bubbles, the greater the acidity of the candy!


Dancing Frankenworms
What you'll need:
Gummy worms
Baking soda
Vinegar
Cutting board
Sharp knife
2 clear cups

How it works:
1. Cut 3 gummy worms into quarters the long way.  It may help to make your knife wet or dust it in baking soda to prevent the candy from sticking to it.
2. Stir 3 tablespoons of baking soda into a glass filled with 1 cup of warm water.  Mix your cut worms into the baking soda solution.
3. Let the worms soak for 15 minutes.
4. Fill the second clear glass with vinegar.
5. Fish your worms out of the baking soda solution with a fork.  Add a few to the vinegar.
6. The baking soda in the gummy worms will react with the vinegar by producing carbon dioxide bubbles.  The bubbles form on the outside of the gummy worms, causing the worms to rise and "dance" their way to the top of the glass.


Growing Gummy Bears
What you'll need:
2 small bowls
Water
Salt
Gummy bears

How it works:
1. Make about a cup of supersaturated salt water solution.  To do this, add salt a little bit at a time to a cup of boiling water until no more salt dissolves.
2. Allow your salt water to cool in the fridge.
3. When the water is cool, fill your bowls.  Put salt water in one and plain tap water in the other.
4. Gather your gummy bears and pick some that are similar in size.  Put a couple in the salt water and a couple in the plain water.
5. Allow the gummy bears to soak for several hours.  (Don't soak longer than overnight or the gummy bears may fall apart.)
6. Observe the changes in size of your gummy bears.

In the autumn, we see a beautiful change of color as the trees that are green in the summer become red, orange and yellow.  Due to the changes in sunlight and temperature experienced during the fall, trees undergo a chemical process that changes the color of the leaves.

During the summer, leaves have a very important job.  They are the factories where the food that trees need to grow is processed.  This happens in leaves containing a chemical called chlorophyll.  Chlorophyll absorbs energy from sunlight that is then used to convert carbon dioxide and water into carbohydrates.  Chlorophyll has a large amount of green pigment, giving leaves their color.  Other colors are present in leaves, but during the summer, the chlorophyll masks them.

In the fall, when it gets colder and there is less sunlight, leaves stop the food-making process.  Chlorophyll breaks down, and its green color disappears, allowing the other colors present in the leaves to become visible!

Read more about this incredible process here!

Did you know that cooking is science?  It involves all kinds of complex reactions.  Try out some of these fun (and edible) cooking science activities--with a spooky twist!  This post was inspired by kitchenpantryscientist.com.  Check out their website for even more awesome science ideas!

Vampire Rock Candy
(Makes enough for a Halloween party)
What you'll need
5 cups granulated white sugar
2 cups water
cake pop sticks or wooden skewers
red food coloring

Directions
1. Dip one end of the wooden skewers in water and then roll them in granulated sugar.  The sugar should cover 2-3 inches of the stick.  Let them dry completely.
2. Boil 2 cups of water and 5 cups of sugar until the sugar is dissolved.  It should look like syrup.
3. Let the syrup sit until it is no longer hot and then pour it into a large glass jar or a deep bowl.
4. When the syrup is completely cool, set the sugary end of the skewers into the syrup, evenly spaced.  Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let them sit for about a week.  Move the sticks from time to time so they don't stick to each other or the bowl.
5. When the rock candy is done, pull them from the syrup and let them dry.  Save the syrup.
6. When you're ready to serve your Vampire Rock Candy, pour a few cm of sugar syrup into the bottom of a pretty glass and add a few drops of red food coloring.  Stir.
7. Put your rock candy, handle side up, into the glass.  Enjoy your blood-dipped rock candy!

How it works
This is crystal science.  Crystals are solids formed by a network of repeating patterns of molecules.  When you boil the sugar into the water, it makes a supersaturated solution, meaning it contains more sugar than can stay in the solution.  As the temperature decreases, the sugar comes out of the solution, forming crystals.  The crystals bond to the sugar "seeds" on the sticks, making rock candy!


Alien Eyeballs
What you'll need
Two 3oz packages of lemon Jell-O
One 6 oz package of Berry Blue Jell-O
Water
Potato peeler
Toothpick or skewer
Two oval-shaped ice cube trays
Cherry Kool-Aid
Blue Raspberry Kool-Aid
Straw

Directions
1. Dissolve two 3oz packages of lemon Jello in 1 and 1/4 cups of boiling water.  Allow it to cool briefly, and pour it into ice cube trays.  Refrigerate until firm.
2. Dissolve 6 oz package of blue Jell-O in 1 and 1/4 cups of boiling water.  Cool briefly.
3. Using the end of your potato peeler, hollow out a circle in the middle of each yellow Jell-O "eyeball".  Carve the circle about halfway to the bottom of the gelatin.  Use a toothpick to remove the cored Jell-O.
4. Fill the hollow with the liquid blue gelatin and return to the refrigerator to harden.
5. Once set, put ice cube trays containing Jell-O eyeballs in a casserole dish of hot tap water for 1-2 minutes.  This will help you unmold the gelatin.  Remove the eyeballs from the ice cube trays.
6.  Use a straw to add red Kool-Aid liquid to the center of each eyeball.  Then use a toothpick to draw lines out from the center.
7.  Cover with plastic wrap and let sit for a few hours so that the Kool-Aid will start to diffuse.
8. Repeat the process with blue Kool-Aid liquid.
9.  Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.  The Kool-Aid colors will diffuse into the eyeballs!

How it works
Molecules move from areas of high concentration, where there are a lot of other similar molecules, to areas of low concentration, where there are not as many similar molecules.  This is called diffusion.


Halloween Meringues
What you'll need
3 egg whites from extra large eggs
1/8 tsp cream of tartar
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 tsp vanilla
gel food coloring
toothpicks
sprinkles or dusting sugar (optional)
parchment paper
mixer
baking sheets
pastry bags (or large Ziploc bags with the corners cut off)
Round piping tips (if you have them)

Directions
1. Pre-heat oven to 200 degrees F.
2. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
3. Beat egg whites on medium speed until they start to foam.
4. Add cream of tartar and continue to beat the egg whites on high.
5. When soft peaks form, add sugar a tablespoon or so at a time as you beat the eggs.  Add the vanilla.
6. Continue beating the mixture until stiff, glossy peaks with rounded tips form.  Don't over-beat.
7.  Add a round tip to the pastry or plastic bag.  Fill the bag with the meringue.  You can color the meringue with food coloring before piping.
8. Use the bag and tip to pipe half of the meringue into blobs.  (Tip: make colorful streaks on the meringues by using a toothpick to smear food coloring on the inside of the pastry tip before putting it into the bag and piping the meringue.)
9.  A small tip can be used to create eyes for the blobs, snakes or worms, or you can decorate with sprinkles and dusting sugar.
10. Bake the meringues for 1-2 hours until they feel dry.  Let them cool before eating!

How it works
Meringues are egg whites whipped into sugary foams.  As you whip air into the mix, glue-like egg proteins stick to the bubbles, forming a thick foam.  The sugar combines with water from the eggs to create a sweet syrup.  When heated at a low temperature for a long period of time, the sugar and protein go from elastic goo to a crunchy, glassy state!

Happy spooky season, science buddies!  In honor of the most spine-tingling time of year, here are some creepy STEM activities that you can try at home!

Flying Ghosts
What you'll need:
Tea bags
Black permanent marker
Lighter
Non-flammable surface

How it works:
1. Cut the top off of the tea bag, making a straight line.  Unfold the tea bag and empty the contents.
2. Draw a face toward the bottom of the bag.
3. Shape the tea bag into a cylinder and place it upright on the non-flammable surface.
4. Light the top of the tea bag on fire and watch what happens!

Witch's Brew
What you'll need:
Hydrogen peroxide
Warm water
Yeast Packets
Flasks or plastic bottles
Teaspoon and Tablespoon
Food coloring
Dish soap
Tray or container (to catch foam)
Small cup

How it works:
1. Pour half a cup of hydrogen peroxide into a container.
2. Squirt dish soap into the container.
3. Add food coloring.
4. In the small cup, mix one teaspoon of yeast with two tablespoons of warm water.
5. Pour the yeast mixture into the container and watch what happens!

Candy Catapult
What you'll need:
10 Jumbo popsicle sticks or craft sticks
Rubber bands
Bottle cap
Hot glue gun
Fun items to fling (plastic eyeballs, spiders, candy pumpkins, etc.)
Small measuring tape.

How it works:
1. Secure 8 craft sticks together at the ends with rubber bands.  Wind the bands tightly.
2. Take a stick and wedge it into the middle of the stack (horizontally) just above the bottom stick.  Make sure it is centered in the stack.  Place the remaining craft stick on the top of the stack in line with the one you just added.
3. Secure the tips of the two sticks together with a looser rubber band.  It will need to have some give to get a good launch.
4. Use a glue gun to add a bottle cap to the top of the catapult.
5. See how far you can fling things with your catapult.

Have fun and stay spooky!