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3 Pumpkin STEM Stations for Your Classroom [ep.182]

3 Pumpkin STEM Stations for Your Classroom [ep.182]

Check out the full episode about pumpkin STEM stations:

 

Subscribe to the podcast HERE on your favorite podcasting platform. Have a STEM question? Leave a voice message for the podcast

Episode Summary

If you are looking for Fall-themed STEM stations that aren’t Halloween-related, but still celebrate the time of year, I got you covered in this episode! I’ll explain how I organized the stations with a group of students and how they rotated through.

Then, I’ll share with you the three, easy-to-prep pumpkin STEM stations that you can try with students. In my group, I had kids from 4 years old to 10 years old mixed together, and they all had a blast!

In this episode, you’ll learn:

  • Organizing and rotating students through the 3 pumpkin STEM Stations
  • Life Cycle of a Pumpkin Robot Coding
  • Pumpkin Pixel Art
  • Pumpkin Vine Pom Pom Mazes

Resources Mentioned:

Some items are linked to my Amazon Affiliate account. When you purchase through my link, there is no added cost to you, but I receive a small commission in return.

Episode Transcript: 

Welcome to the Elementary STEM Coach Podcast. I'm your host, Naomi Meredith, a former classroom teacher turned K-5 STEM teacher and coach. With over a decade of experience teaching and a master's degree in STEM leadership, I'm here to coach you throughout the year to help you gain back more time to create innovative experiences for your students.

The other day when I was shopping at Trader Joe's, my Trader Joe's had all of the pumpkins decorating the outside. Pumpkins of all shapes and sizes and all sorts of colors, and they even had bumpy pumpkins. I love fall, and where I'm here in Colorado, it hasn't felt like fall.

It's actually been pretty hot, but in the mornings I like to pretend it's fall. It feels very, very nice. And so this episode I'm sharing with you three pumpkin STEM stations that you can do with your students that are super easy to prep and a lot of fun for the kids.

I recently taught these pumpkin STEM stations to a homeschool group that I am connected with, and there's about 15 to 20 kids, depending on the day, that I get to teach, and we reserve a room in our local library that I actually get to teach and do all sorts of fun STEM stuff with them for an hour. And I love a good theme. I've said this a million times, but that's actually the way I like to plan.

It's really good for helping make connections, especially with the different types of activities that you do. And this one was all about pumpkins. This isn't specifically Halloween related, so you can definitely do these for this time of year, Halloween, if you're listening in real time.

But if you want to save them for November, you can definitely do that too. I had kids in my group who don't celebrate Halloween. So this definitely worked for kids just learning about pumpkins.

Really quick how I set this up. This isn't my typical four stations because I knew kids wouldn't have enough time to rotate through all four. And so I had four groups, but I had three stations.

And this is actually how it worked. The kids were in their four groups. So for me, I had a lot of ages.

So I actually leveled them by age when they were in their groups. I had three different stations. So robotics, a pixel art station, I'm going to explain all of these.

And then they had a creation station or their engineering station. And one group would be at robotics, one would be at pixel art. Two groups were with me at the creation station, the engineering station, and I would set a timer.

When the timer went off, the robots and the pixel art stations would switch. So they would get a chance to do that. Then the kids who were with me creating, they actually stayed with me.

So it was like they were rotating two times. They did need a little bit of extra time to create. And I did this before with another type of stations that we did about space.

And it worked really well. I set a timer again. So after that timer went off, my kids who were creating, they were done with their creation.

And I had them set their creations over to the side. Then the kids who are at pixel art and robotics came to my station for the last two rounds. And then my two groups are with me, one went to robotics, one went to pixel art, and then they would do the switching.

So it worked out awesome. They're the sweetest little group. I love working with them so much.

I'm excited to see them in November. But this works really well. If you can't do two days of rotations, I still have the four groups, but they rotated through all three, because everything was pretty simple.

And they got to try it all out. So let's get into those pumpkin stations. The first pumpkin station was using a robot, I use the code and go mouse, but you could use pretty much any robot you have on hand.

I have coding mats for many of the popular robots that you can print and create, which I keep a stash of those here in my home office. And what we did is students had images of the life cycle of a pumpkin. So starting from the seed, all the way up to the adult pumpkin, and they could put the cards wherever they wanted on the mat.

And they coded their robot to travel the path of the life cycle of a pumpkin. Once they got the hang of that, and if they had extra time, I also had a cube that a paper cube that is folded and taped together that had all the different images of each step of the life cycle of a pumpkin, they could roll the dice and then code their robot to go to that location. Even though my students were mixed in age from kindergarten all the way up to fourth grade, none of them actually had experience coding a robot before even this simple type of robot.

So it actually worked well for my mixed ability of students. Because this was their first time doing this and they loved it. The second station that we had was creating fall pixel art, I went online and I searched up different images of pixel art fall things.

So leaves, pumpkins, those type corn, those types of things. And I had those images printed out in color and I put them in page productors and they were laying on the table. And I had a grid printed out for kids.

And then the kids are able to create pixel art that was colored in. Now I've done pixel art a few ways where I've had the old blocks old boards. I don't think blocks is old, but I had older blocks, old boards, and they had these tiny cubes where students would put the art in.

That is definitely something that I want to invest in eventually, which they have versions of pixel art with cubes you can purchase online, which I will link in the show notes what I'm talking about. But I like students to create pixel art that way. Coloring is great.

You can even buy colored squares that they can put on a grid and create pixel art that way. You can even use those little melting beads where they have a grid. You could put those together and then eventually melt them.

I did coloring just for our time. It worked out well. Some students even would trace their image with pencil and then color in later.

So that was an easy station for them to do. And you can have a lot of variations. And for the station with me, students were creating a pumpkin patch.

And you might have seen on my Instagram at Naomi Meredith underscore, I was taking video of me prepping for these STEM stations. And one of them, I really was doing this. I wasn't just acting for this video.

I really was doing this. I have a whole bucket of pom poms and I was picking out all of the orange pom poms. Because I didn't want kids to fight over, I want this color pom pom.

I want this color. Nope. I picked out all the orange ones.

There's a few different sizes. That's okay. And that was enough.

So I had orange pom poms. Then I had paper plates that I made sure had an edge around it. Some of those really cheap paper plates, you know what I'm talking about.

There's no edge. It's just there. It's a plate.

But a little slightly more expensive ones with the edging so that the pom pom wouldn't come out. Then I had some images of pumpkins that they could color. And then I cut strips of green paper that would represent the vines.

And so what students did using glue sticks is they created a pumpkin patch with vines that had some loops and swirls and different arches that the pom pom could roll through. And then they would color in those pumpkins, cut them out, and add them to their pumpkin patch however they wanted. This was really simple, but they really liked it.

And if they held down the paper of the construction paper vines, it worked just fine with the glue sticks. And they had a lot of fun and they were shocked. I was actually a little shocked too, that the pom pom rolled around really well.

So it was a really great activity. And all of these things, so their pixel art and their pumpkin maze, they could take home with them. Of course they couldn't take home the robot, but I even printed them out the life cycle of a pumpkin activity that they could complete at home.

At the end, we had a little bit of extra time after we cleaned up. And the kids were actually telling me about this pumpkin story they had heard about. And so we actually had time to listen to the story, Too Many Pumpkins.

You'll have to listen to it. It's actually pretty cute. And it's also not really Halloween-y.

And so that was a great ending to our time together. Let me know if you try any of these pumpkin STEM stations in your classroom. I will link everything in the show notes for you so you can find what you need and have a very pumpkin-y time.

Thank you so much for listening to today's episode of the Elementary STEM Coach Podcast. I would love to connect with you over on Instagram at Naomi Meredith underscore, or send me an email to elementarystemcoachpodcast at gmail.com. Also make sure to check out my website, naomimeredith.com to see all the show notes from today's episode and shop my K through five STEM resources. Any questions you have, needs for resources or ideas for episodes, get in touch.

I'll talk to you soon.

Related Episodes/Blog Posts:

 

Connect with Naomi Meredith:

 

More About your host, Naomi Meredith

Naomi Meredith is an online K-5 STEM Coach in Colorado supporting elementary teachers world-wide navigate the best practices, strategies and tools out there. With over a decade of experience teaching, 5 years teaching elementary STEM, along with a M.Ed. in STEM Leadership and STEM Certificate, Naomi helps teachers world-wide to navigate best practices, strategies and tools out there. 

She offers a variety of tools to help teachers feel successful teaching STEM to their elementary students through lesson plans, online courses, coaching and speaking events.

She truly believes that any teacher out there can learn how to use STEM, innovation and hands-on learning in their classrooms effectively. She can’t wait to connect with you and be your guide!

More About The Elementary STEM Coach Podcast

Are you tired of scrolling online for your next great STEM lesson? Do you feel like there is no time to plan, research and test meaningful STEM lessons, so you throw together a hands-on activity and hope that it works? What systems and routines should you set in place to help students be creative, critically think, and collaborate? 

The Elementary STEM Coach is a podcast for K-5 STEM teachers, classroom teachers, GT specialists, and homeschool parents looking for actionable STEM solutions. Each week, Naomi Meredith will share tools, resources and lesson ideas that are actionable in your classroom and create highly engaging experiences with your students. You’ll learn systems and routines that will create control in the chaos and that will keep you organized all year long. 

Your mindless scrolling days are over! Your new STEM-best friend is now here in your ear buds!

3 Spooky Science Experiments To Try [ep.181]

3 Spooky Science Experiments To Try [ep.181]

Check out the full episode about spooky science experiments:

 

Subscribe to the podcast HERE on your favorite podcasting platform. Have a STEM question? Leave a voice message for the podcast

Watch the video version of the episode here:

Episode Summary

I’m diving into the spooky spirit with three fun and easy science experiments that you can try with your students! Whether you’re planning a Halloween-themed lesson, a special event like trunk-or-treat, or just want to add some excitement to your classroom, these activities are low-prep and big on fun.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

  • Smoldering Pumpkins
  • Static Ghosts
  • Flying Bats

Resources Mentioned:

Some items are linked to my Amazon Affiliate account. When you purchase through my link, there is no added cost to you, but I receive a small commission in return.

Episode Transcript: 

Welcome to the Elementary STEM Coach Podcast. I'm your host, Naomi Meredith, a former classroom teacher turned K-5 STEM teacher and coach. With over a decade of experience teaching and a master's degree in STEM leadership, I'm here to coach you throughout the year to help you gain back more time to create innovative experiences for your students.

You all know I love a good theme and when it comes to pretty much every holiday, I am all about it. In fact, if you are watching the video version of this episode, I have a spooky in quotations sweatshirt that I absolutely love. I downloaded the template off of Etsy, and then I made my own sweatshirt.

So that's a fun little hack if you need something in a pinch. But I have three spooky science experiments that you can try with your students. Or if you are doing a spooky presentation, maybe you're doing something at trunk or tree or something for your school.

These are very, very easy to prep and they are a lot of fun and show off some fun science. I recently presented these three experiments at my old school that I taught K-5 STEM. One of the families asked me if I could be the featured presenter for their Cub Scout group and they actually had a whole lot of kids and it was a lot of fun to see some of my students from the past and meet some new ones and some little siblings.

It was a lot of fun and of course I decorated the table. I brought in some fun little Halloween and spooky decor and as the kids are coming in, they wanted to hear all about it. So I actually got to present in front of the whole group of kids.

But like I said, you could do this like a station rotation and all of that. So let's get into it. Any extra materials that I used that I can find the links, I will link that in the show notes for you so you can grab them if you want to try these yourself.

The first spooky experiment that I did was a smoking pumpkin. So I had one of those pumpkin buckets that you see for a dollar or two where you can go trick-or-treating and a little cauldron. And right before my presentation, I went and purchased some dry ice.

I was able to find dry ice at my grocery store. They had it where customer service was and I brought in my own cooler and gloves to make sure that I didn't burn myself because it's very, very cold. And then I brought in some water bottles and I talked with kids about how you have the three states of matter.

And I have the kids tell me the three states of matter. They recited those for me, solid, liquid, and gas, the basic ones that we talk about in science in elementary. And I let them know that usually when things turn from a solid to a gas, it will melt.

And so you have the solid, it will melt, be the liquid, and then turn into the gas. But dry ice is different because dry ice is a solid, but it switches quickly from solid to gas when water is poured on top, creating this science explanation called sublimation. And then the gas, which looked like smoke, came out of the pumpkin and the cauldron.

The kids absolutely loved it. It's super mesmerizing. You can move the bucket around and the smoke kind of moves around and it's super spooky.

If you want to make it a little spookier, you can put some glow sticks in there as well. So that's a really fun crowd pleaser. The dry ice is really thick.

So I recommend if you have a hammer, kind of breaking it up into chunks and you should be good to go. The next spooky science experiment is static electricity ghosts. All you need for this one is a blown up balloon, tissue paper, where you cut out some ghost shapes.

I also drew cute little faces and a little bit of scotch tape. What you do is you tape the bottom of your ghost to your surface and make sure that they can move around. Mine had a tablecloth when I did this and it kind of stuck to the tablecloth.

So make sure just to add a little tape on the end of the ghost and then the rest can move around. Then this was really fun. I went around and rubbed the balloon on the kids' heads to build up that static electricity charge.

After you rub the balloon on their heads, then float that balloon on top of the ghost and all of a sudden they start popping up looking like they're floating. It's really cool because when you are getting that static electricity, when you are rubbing that balloon, the balloon's atoms are becoming negatively charged where the paper ghost has positively charged atoms. So opposites attract and then it seems like those ghosts are floating up in the air.

So this is really, really fun. And the last spooky science experiment that you can try are rocket bats. All I did for this one is I bought a stomp rocket, very inexpensive, that came with four rockets.

Mine glowed in the dark, but you get a stomp rocket with your rockets. And then I cut out some shapes of a bat. Now there are a couple of science things that go along with this.

I told the kids a little bit about bats and how they are nocturnal, where they sleep during the day and they hunt at night. And I told kids that there is a spot in Austin, Texas, where all these bats like to hang out under this bridge. And then when it becomes getting darker at night, all the bats will fly out at once, which is so crazy.

So I told them about that a little bit, how bats are helpful pollinators. And then I had a few volunteers come up and they got to stomp on the rocket to make the bats or the little rockets fly in the air. We also talked about why this is happening and how this is demonstrating Newton's third law of motion where every action has an equal and opposite reaction and how this is happening where a rocket is being launched in the air.

There's all of that buildup. And once it's ready to be launched, the rocket launches up and there's all of that equal and same fire or blast coming out. It was actually really cute because the kids would stomp on the rocket and then the rocket actually launched out in the crowd and they're very, very light and the kids are trying to catch it.

So this was a lot of fun. Would you try these spooky science experiments with your students? Maybe you even try them with your own kids. They are very low prep, but they are a lot of fun and to get you in that spooky season.

Before we go, I got a really sweet message on my Instagram DMs that I wanted to read with you. So, and sometimes my things get hidden in my requests, which sometimes I don't know why, but thank you to am 57. She said, Hey, I'm a fifth grade math teacher.

And this year I've also been assigned to incorporate STEM into my classroom. I'm so grateful to have found your YouTube channel. So helpful.

I've purchased some of your things on TPT. I love that I can be helpful. I totally understand what it's like transitioning from the classroom and then being a K through five STEM teacher and now teaching STEM in my community and online in a lot of different ways.

So I'm so glad that the things that I've created and continue to create are helpful to teachers who are just like me. If you haven't already, feel free to leave any kind things of how this podcast is helpful for you. Leave a review.

This helps other teachers know if this is the show for them. Thank you so much. And I will see you in the next episode.

Thank you so much for listening to today's episode of the elementary STEM coach podcast. I would love to connect with you over on Instagram at Naomi Meredith underscore, or send me an email to elementary STEM coach podcast at gmail.com. Also make sure to check out my website, Naomi Meredith.com to see all the show notes from today's episode and shop my K through five STEM resources. Any questions you have needs for resources or ideas for episodes, get in touch.

I'll talk to you soon.

Related Episodes/Blog Posts:

Connect with Naomi Meredith:

 

More About your host, Naomi Meredith

Naomi Meredith is an online K-5 STEM Coach in Colorado supporting elementary teachers world-wide navigate the best practices, strategies and tools out there. With over a decade of experience teaching, 5 years teaching elementary STEM, along with a M.Ed. in STEM Leadership and STEM Certificate, Naomi helps teachers world-wide to navigate best practices, strategies and tools out there. 

She offers a variety of tools to help teachers feel successful teaching STEM to their elementary students through lesson plans, online courses, coaching and speaking events.

She truly believes that any teacher out there can learn how to use STEM, innovation and hands-on learning in their classrooms effectively. She can’t wait to connect with you and be your guide!

More About The Elementary STEM Coach Podcast

Are you tired of scrolling online for your next great STEM lesson? Do you feel like there is no time to plan, research and test meaningful STEM lessons, so you throw together a hands-on activity and hope that it works? What systems and routines should you set in place to help students be creative, critically think, and collaborate? 

The Elementary STEM Coach is a podcast for K-5 STEM teachers, classroom teachers, GT specialists, and homeschool parents looking for actionable STEM solutions. Each week, Naomi Meredith will share tools, resources and lesson ideas that are actionable in your classroom and create highly engaging experiences with your students. You’ll learn systems and routines that will create control in the chaos and that will keep you organized all year long. 

Your mindless scrolling days are over! Your new STEM-best friend is now here in your ear buds!

spooky stem activities

7 Spooky STEM Activities to Try [ep.129]

7 Spooky STEM Activities to Try [ep.129]

spooky stem activities

Check out the full episode on 7 Spooky STEM Activities to Try:  

 

 

Subscribe to the podcast HERE on your favorite podcasting platform.

 

Have a STEM question? Leave a voice message for the podcast!

Episode Summary

Are you looking for fun ways to celebrate Halloween in your STEM classroom without any chaos or your students bouncing off the wall? In today’s episode, I’m sharing seven spooky STEM activities that your students will love. Whether you’re looking for fun activities for a Halloween party or to incorporate some fall-themed activities into your lessons, these spooky STEM activities are perfect for your STEM classroom.

 

In this episode, you’ll learn:

  • 7 spooky STEM activities
  • An overview of the materials needed for each spooky STEM activity
  • Tips and strategies for implementing each activity

Resources Mentioned:

Episode Transcript: 

Naomi Meredith [00:00:00]:


Looking to add an element of spookiness to your STEM lessons? Well, I have the perfect amount of ideas for you. Whether you are looking for something to do with your whole class or a lot of different STEM stations. These 7 ideas are definitely going to add in that spooky factor. When I first started teaching, I taught 2nd grade for 2 years and 3rd grade for 4 years. Once I got my feet underway after teaching 2nd grade, I moved on to 3rd grade in a new school, new district, and I had parents plan and host my classroom parties. Well, after that year, that was something I told myself, never again is that ever happening. They were absolutely out of control. The kids ate way too much food, and who was left to deal with them all day? Me.


Naomi Meredith [00:01:04]:


And it was absolute chaos. So I said from that day on, any party or event, I will get this covered. I know that I can plan this perfectly fine all by myself, and the kids will be calm. And let me tell you, it definitely works and why I would do the controlled chaos, but the kids were definitely productive during my parties and had a great time, and didn't eat too much sugar. This really went on in my K through 5 STEM role where really it's like throwing a birthday party all day at least 6 different times. So whether you're hoping to add an element of STEM into a Halloween or spooky fall party, these ideas would be perfect for that, but also a great addition to your Halloween STEM bundle, which you can grab in my TPT shop Naomi Meredith, and if they're not in there yet at the time of this recording, definitely grabbed the bundle now while it's at its cheapest because whenever I add anything new, the price goes up and you always get those updates for free if you already have the bundle, so jump in on that as soon as possible. If you're looking for the link, that will be linked for you in the show notes. The 1st spooky STEM activity is a witch's hand.


Naomi Meredith [00:02:28]:


Don't worry, it's something that you will make on your own, and using cardstock, straws, plastic or paper, whatever you have, and yarn, students will actually create a hand that will open and close, and you can even have it try to pick up different things like candy corn. This activity does take some time and patience. So, if you are going to do this with younger students if you have older helpers or buddies helping out. That is a great option because it does take some time really tracing the hand, adding in those spooky elements, and then cutting the straws and placing them where the joints would be so that the hand can open and close efficiently. But once you get it, it's actually really, really cool, and it does help students understand how hands basically work with your muscles and with the joints. So pretty cool to see that inside view of a hand by adding in that spooky element. The 2nd spooky STEM activity is creating monster mouths. I tried this for the 1st time a few years ago when I hosted a Lego after-school club, and this is actually probably when I was first getting started with clubs.


Naomi Meredith [00:03:50]:


This is one of my clubs. If you wanna hear more about my clubs, I do have an episode about the 8 different types of STEM after-school clubs that you can host. So check that out. That'll be linked in the show notes. But this was really fun in our Lego 101 club where we just did some fun building challenges, and I just made this one up where students had those little Halloween monster teeth, googly eyes, and Lego bricks, and they had to design a monster that could hold the little mouth in place without being taped in, and then they put the googly eyes 2 or more or what however many googly eyes they wanted to create this cute little monster. They didn't turn out very scary. They were absolutely adorable, and even one of my students figured out how to make their monster mouth open and close, which was so cute. So you can go through the whole engineering design process with this, or if you just want to do the building challenge, that is an option as well.


Naomi Meredith [00:04:54]:


The 3rd spooky STEM activity is exploding jack-o'-lanterns. If you listened to my last episode, I shared with you all different kinds of pumpkin STEM activities. So, if you haven't checked that out, go back and listen. That'll give you some more ideas if you're looking for things that are more around pumpkins. This one is fun. You don't have to use real pumpkins unless you really want to, but instead, you can grab some orange cups, orange plastic cups, baking soda, vinegar, and even a little bit of food coloring or glitter if you would like as well. And you are going to have students create like that volcano experiment but using the cups to represent a jack-o'-lantern. So before they add in all of those elements, they can actually draw on a face, or maybe you have some stickers that they could use.


Naomi Meredith [00:05:50]:


You could even find those stickers that you see that kids decorate pumpkins, and they can decorate their cup to be their jack-o'-lantern. And then adding in those mixtures and solutions. They can have their jack-o'lantern explode. But before throwing it away, You could actually even put a glow stick in there, and this could be decoration throughout the day, and students could come and pick up their jack o'-lantern before they go home. So just a fun activity where you can talk about the states of matter but also add in that jack-o'-lantern theme. The 4th spooky STEM activity is flying ghosts. To help students understand the third law of motion by Sir Isaac Newton. With every action, there is an opposite and equal reaction.


Naomi Meredith [00:06:39]:


So, thinking about how rockets explode, that there is all that pressure building up that when it explodes, the rocket is blasting off in the air, and then so are the flames going back out of it. So that opposite and equal reaction. So same kind of idea, students will have white balloons, and they will design their ghost face, and then they will create their rocket that the ghost will travel on to fly throughout their zip line. So this can be pretty fun, too. Students can actually design the track and how that will go and how that actually makes a difference in how fast or how far the ghost can travel, and then they can definitely experiment with the different sizes of the balloons and all of that. This can definitely keep your kids engaged with a lot of different variables, and they could even think about having a ghost race. The 5th spooky STEM activity is having jack o'lantern and skeletal system robot coding. These are 2 different activities that have similar vibes.


Naomi Meredith [00:07:45]:


So you'll have 2 different sets of cards. So don't mix them up it kind of actually won't make sense. But for the jack-o'-lantern coding on your cards, you'll have different faces that go along with different complete jack-o'-lantern faces. So, for example, 1 jack o'-lantern might have a certain pattern of eyes, nose, and mouth, and then all of the pieces on the cards are separated and mixed up. So you probably have about 5 or so complete jack-o'-lanterns, and students have to take turns coding their robot to collect the pieces to complete the jack-o'lanterns first. You could do this in a lot of variations, maybe all of the cards are facing up, and they can see the cards. You can make it a lot harder and make it a memory game and then add in that element of coding. So this would be really fun and a lot of problem solving to finishing these jack o'lantern puzzles.


Naomi Meredith [00:08:40]:


The other robot coding game that you can do is all about the skeletal system, and this can help students understand the different major parts that are in the skeletal system. Likewise, they can collect all of the pieces that are on the card to finish up the skeletal system. I recently taught a STEM field trip here at one of our local facilities. And it was all about STEM and health and wellness and the human body, and it was 5th graders, and they hadn't yet had their human body lessons, which I know that they would do eventually, that's just something that they do in science out here in Colorado, but there are all these pictures of the different body systems and the kids were like, ew, that's so gross. I'm like, you guys haven't had your human body lessons yet, have you? And they're no. I'm like, yeah. It is a little bit gross, So just be aware of your audience and also the images that you're using because this legit is probably the most spookiest of them all that I am talking about. The 6th spooky STEM activity that you can try is kid-safe slime.


Naomi Meredith [00:09:50]:


Now, I know parents don't love slime, and so this is a great opportunity to do this at school, and parents will be so grateful for that because they really don't wanna do this at home. And really, don't send it home with the kids. It's better off if they put it in the trash based on experience. But I have 3 different slime recipes that I actually broke down and rewrote them into smaller proportions. Because if you're teaching a lot of kids throughout the day, you will run out of supplies really, really fast. So, using those smaller proportions, they can try different slime experiments and compare and contrast the different types of slime, and one of those uses glue. I tried this specific recipe using glue and switching out the glue for glow in the dark glow. I was hosting a STEM after-school experience.


Naomi Meredith [00:10:45]:


It was a prize for something with our fun run. And I decided to do a STEM glow party, which I am gonna do a whole episode about it, I haven't forgotten about this. I have it saved for in the future. But one of the stations was creating glow-in-the-dark slime, and it actually worked. It was super, super cool. We did have black lights going, so it did amp up the glow feature, but I'm pretty sure if you leave the glow-in-the-dark glue in sunlight, it will glow in a dark room. The black lights just really amped it up and made it look a lot cooler. And the final spooky STEM activity that kind of as activity, but not really more of decoration, is having a magic potion bulletin board. Now, when you are thinking about STEM and really the whole purpose of teaching STEM, what is the whole purpose? Is it all of these fun and amazing hands-on activities? Yes, that's part of it.


Naomi Meredith [00:11:44]:


But a lot of the reasons why that we teach them and why it's important is all of the soft skills that you are teaching students, collaboration, perseverance, grit, creativity. Those are the true magic potions of STEM. So, just using my bulletin board kit where you just print, cut, and hang. It has all of those magic potions where you can decorate your space, your bulletin board or your door, whatever, your windows to get in the mood of spooky season. When I print these out, cut them out, and try it, I usually print out 2 sets. And I gave a whole set to one of my STEM teacher friends, and she was like, oh my gosh. This is amazing. This takes me hardly any time to hang up, and it looks really, really cute. So definitely a fun way that you can decorate for this season where it's STEM themed, but then you can also laminate and keep them for year after year.


Naomi Meredith [00:12:42]:


As a recap, here are those 7 spooky STEM activities that you can try in your classroom. 1st is the witch's hands. Next is the monster mouse. 3rd are the exploding jack-o'-lanterns. 4th are the flying ghosts. 5th, the robot coding stations with jack o'-lanterns and the skeletal system. 6th, kids safe slime but make it glow in the dark, and 7, the magic potion bulletin board. I hope that all of these activities get you in the mood for spooky season.


Naomi Meredith [00:13:21]:


And if you don't feel like putting them all together yourself, I've done all of that work for you. You can check it out in my Halloween STEM bundle at my tpt shop, Naomi Meredith, just to save you some time, and so you can just focus on your Halloween costume. Hint, hint, I am, and make sure to go and check it out on my Instagram page. Thank you so much for being here, and have a happy spooky season.

 

 

Code robots to collect different pieces of a Jack-o-Lantern to create a custom design. Grab the templates for this lesson here. 

 

 

spooky stem activities

 

Related Episodes/Blog Posts:

 

Connect with Naomi Meredith:

 

More About your host, Naomi Meredith

Naomi Meredith is a former classroom teacher turned current K-5 STEM teacher and coach. Her role not only includes teaching over 500 students in her school, but also leading professional development and co-teaching with teachers to help them integrate STEM & Technology.

With over a decade of experience along with a M.Ed. in STEM Leadership and STEM certificate, she helps teachers navigate the best practices, strategies and tools out there.

She truly believes that any teacher out there can learn how to use STEM & Technology in their classrooms effectively. She can’t wait to connect with you and be your guide!

More About The Elementary STEM Coach Podcast

Are you tired of scrolling online for your next great STEM lesson? Do you feel like there is no time to plan, research and test meaningful STEM lessons, so you throw together a hands-on activity and hope that it works? What systems and routines should you set in place to help students be creative, critically think, and collaborate? 

The Elementary STEM Coach is a podcast for K-5 STEM teachers, classroom teachers, GT specialists, and homeschool parents looking for actionable STEM solutions. Each week, Naomi Meredith will share tools, resources and lesson ideas that are actionable in your classroom and create highly engaging experiences with your students. You’ll learn systems and routines that will create control in the chaos and that will keep you organized all year long. 

Your mindless scrolling days are over! Your new STEM-best friend is now here in your ear buds!

halloween stem activities

5 Halloween STEM Activities to Try [ep. 27]

5 Halloween STEM Activities to Try [ep. 27]

halloween stem activities

Check out the full episode on 5 Halloween STEM Activities to Try:  

 

Subscribe to the podcast HERE on your favorite podcasting platform.

Have a STEM question? Leave a voice message for the podcast!

Episode Summary

With Halloween right around the corner, you are most likely thinking of Halloween-themed STEM activities to try. 

If you’re looking for ideas fun ideas for STEM activities that are perfect for class parties, one-day challenges, and class rewards, then I have you covered.

In today’s episode, I will share five Halloween STEM activities for you to try.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

  • Monster mouths
  • Jack-o'-lantern robot coding
  • Spider pulleys
  • Slime explorations
  • There was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Bat STEM stations

Resources Mentioned:

Episode Transcript: 

Naomi Meredith  00:00

Looking for some fun Halloween STEM activities to try. I've got you covered. These are perfect for class parties, one-day challenges, and class rewards. Let's jump into these spooktacular activities. 


Naomi Meredith  00:47

To help me get in the mood for this episode, I wore my Jack-O' Lantern shirt. Let me tell you, I am definitely a STEM teacher elementary teacher at heart. My Teacher Honey and I aren't the same age. He's older than me. I tell him when it's Halloween time, I need to have my millennial moments and get in the mood and dress up, which makes it even more fun because we have our little dog Frederick and Frederick and I do the couple's costumes. My Teacher Honey doesn't do any of that. My first year when I got Frederick, I was an astronaut, and Frederick was my little rocket. I made him a little rocket pack out of water bottles that I painted with silver paint and used tissue paper for the flame. So super cute! I had that picture hung up on my wall for a long time, and the younger students kept asking me if I was a real astronaut, and they totally believed me that I was even though I'm holding my dog in the picture. Depending on what mood I was in, I would tell them, “Yes, I am. And that's why I'm a teacher.” But no, I'm really not a real astronaut, but it was a fun costume. 


Naomi Meredith  01:59

The second Halloween with Frederick, I was Miss Frizzle, and he was my little lizard. Of course, I wore that outfit to school but didn't bring Frederick along. When I brought him to doggy daycare and picked him up that afternoon, he actually won the costume contest, which I didn't even know was a contest. I just wanted to dress up, so that was super fun. This year, I am going to dress as a Starbucks barista, and he is going to be my little puppet chino. So poor little Freddy Fred has to dress up with me, and my Teacher Honey is off the hook. 


Naomi Meredith  02:36

So, of course, I'm very excited about this episode because I have five Halloween STEM activities for you to try. I think that you and your students are really going to love them. They aren't tied to Halloween specifically, so if your school or classroom doesn't celebrate Halloween, you can still do these in your classroom. They have a spooky twist, but they're not necessarily let's celebrate Halloween together. So you can still implement these in your classroom no matter what your school or classroom celebrates. Also, if you're looking for more activities, I have five different STEM challenges that I talked about in episode 23, and they are all about fall. You could do all of these Halloween-themed ones and all of the fall ones and just have a fun STEM-themed classroom experience. 


Naomi Meredith  03:25

The first Halloween STEM activity to try is Monster mouth. A lot of times when I am getting inspiration for my holiday-themed STEM activities, I like to browse the Dollar Tree and the Target dollar section to help me give ideas. Also, it's a good excuse for me to buy some things. So that's pretty fun, too. For this challenge, you will need plastic vampire mouths, googly eyes, and LEGO bricks. You can tie in a monster-themed story. One of my favorites is I need a monster. The book itself is so cute, but there also is an adorable little animation of the story that I will embed in the show notes that you should definitely watch with your class. It's a little spooky at first, but then it's just a happy, cute ending. I've even shown it to my Kindergarten class, and they're a little bit scared, but then they're okay. After reading this story, you can have students create their own monsters. You can have them start building right away, or they can plan their design. The creations are absolutely hilarious because of what they come up with. What makes this quite a challenge is they can't use any tape to tape on the monster's mouth. They have to engineer a way for the teeth to be held by the LEGO bricks. Students have such creative ideas, and it is so fun to take pictures of their creations and send those out to families in Seesaw, Flipgrid, or whatever platform you use. If you only have a small class of kids, you can let them keep those little vampire teeth. Or, like me, when I teach all the students in school, I do have to take them back. I will say I have had some kids walk off with them, and that's pretty disgusting because they have been used a lot of times. But this is a fun monster-themed challenge to try. 


Naomi Meredith  05:21

The second Halloween STEM activity to try is Jack-O'-Lantern robot coding. Back in that fall episode, I talked about the importance of having a grid for students to code the robot to, so make sure to go and listen to that part. But for this one, you will want to have a grid for your specific robots, with dice with different faces of Jack-O'-Lanterns on them and different sizes of pumpkins. Likewise, those same images you can have printed out on cards that are mixed up and spread all along the grid, students will roll one of each dice so one dice with the Jack-O'-Lantern face and one dice with the pumpkin size. In turn, they will code their robot to collect the Jack-O'-Lantern phase that will go on the corresponding pumpkin size. If you want to make this even more hands-on, instead of having cards, you could have felt pumpkins that you could cut out on a Cricut machine or even by hand and different Jack-O'-Lantern faces that you've cut out. Those could be lining the border of your coding mat. When students code to those different sections, they can actually build the physical Jack-O'-Lantern. So there are a lot of variations to this. You can have a lot of fun with it and have a different building experience when it comes to coding. 


Naomi Meredith  06:45

The third Halloween STEM activity to try is spider pulleys. Again, this is another low-prep one, but the kids absolutely love it. After talking about the science of pulleys and different pulleys out there, students can create their own pulley system that will help pull the spider up to their web. For this challenge, all you will need are those cute little spider rings that you know as a kid, you got to put one on every finger and think you're beautiful. I'm not saying that I did that. Wink wink. But you have those spider rings, yarn, and pencils, and you tie a long piece of string on those rings and onto the pencils. I recommend doing this ahead of time, so they're ready to go. This is a big challenge for a lot of kids to make those tiny knots. So just go ahead and tie those before you start the challenge. Then you have tiny spider webs printed out on paper and LEGO bricks, or you can even use Makerspace items. Students will create a system where the pulley can be in their design and be steady, and while they turn the pulley, the spider can go up the web. Again, you could send kids on their way with these rings or keep them for a lot of different classes. 


Naomi Meredith  07:57

The fourth Halloween STEM challenge to try is slime explorations. I know a lot of teachers and parents have different opinions when it comes to slime. I recommend, if you can, and if the weather is nice enough, doing this outside. It's a great way to explore the outdoors with this messy experiment. This is also a great lesson on matter and all three states of matter. You can explore how slime does not always follow the rules of solids, liquids, and gases but is more of a non-newtonian fluid. You could talk about all of that science with students. This is also a great way to try different recipes, and students can compare the different types of slime and what they can and can't do. For example, some of the things you can have students observe are which one was the stickiest, which one was the smoothest, the gooiest, the most bouncy, and the most stretchy. My favorite slime out there uses baking soda, glue, and contact solution. You can just Google it and find the recipe. A way to make this even spookier is you can buy glue that glows in the dark. I know that it glows in black light, but I'm not 100% sure if it glows in just a dark room, so test it out. They make big jugs of it, and it's sparkly and so much fun. Another thing too for the slime is having some gloves on hand for students who have sensory needs. Not all kids like the sensation of slime, so having this available is a great backup for students who still want to experiment with this fun challenge but don't necessarily want their hands in contact with the slime. 


Naomi Meredith  09:43

The fifth Halloween STEM challenge to try is There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Bat. I have four station ideas that you can use in your classroom. This will get two days of planning done for you if you do two stations a day after you read this story or listen to an audio version. Now, most kids think this book is really funny. I had a Kindergarten class one year that had the weirdest reaction. They kept saying, “Eww! This is gross,” or, “Oh, what's wrong with her?” So that Kindergarten class wasn't a huge fan. Most classes just laugh and think it's funny, but this class had a totally different response. So read that story and have the different things that the old lady swallows and pictures of those things. They could be real or clip art versions. 


Naomi Meredith  10:37

Here are the four different stations that you can use that go along with this story. The first one is students can use LEGO bricks or whatever type of blocks that they have. They can build the different items that the old lady eats and then have an old lady face, and they can feed her all of those different items in the order that it happens in the story. This is really good for the beginning, middle, and end, paying attention to details and having the sequential steps of a story. So you're tying in those ELA standards. At the second station, you can add in some robotic coding. You have the different pictures of those things that the old lady ate, and students can code to those different items in the story and in the order that they happened. The third station that you can have is students can create pixel images of those things that the old lady ate. My favorite way for kids to create pixel art is using the boards that are from the Bloxels kits. I will link this in the show notes for you. Bloxels actually has a paid subscription where students can use the images that they create on the board and then put them into a game that they can create. I actually don't buy the subscription. I just really liked the boards, and the kids love the little pieces. It's great for fine motor skills and seeing the big picture, and breaking it apart into sections. The Fourth Station that you can have that will go along with the story is that students can build the different items that the old lady ate using digital blocks in Seesaw or ones that you can create in Google Slides. You can even have students graph the number of different blocks that they use. For example, if they create a bat using specific pattern blocks, they can graph how many of each type of block they used in their design, so you are adding in that math piece. 


Naomi Meredith  12:27

As a recap, here are the five Halloween STEM activities that you can try in your classroom. First are monster mouths. Second, Jack-O'-Lantern robot coding. Third, spider pulleys. Fourth, slime explorations. Fifth, There was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Bat STEM stations. Also, I would love to invite you over to my Ultimate STEM Resource Library where these challenges and even more October-themed STEM challenges are there for the rest of this month and other fun bonuses as well. You definitely want to jump in on this membership because there are some awesome changes coming up for 2023 that I definitely don't want you to miss out on. Thank you so much for being here, and have a happy Halloween.

 


halloween stem activities

halloween stem activities

halloween stem activities

halloween stem activities

halloween stem activities

halloween stem activities

halloween stem activities

halloween stem activities

 

Related Episodes/Blog Posts:

 

Connect with Naomi Meredith:

 

More About your host, Naomi Meredith

Naomi Meredith is a former classroom teacher turned current K-5 STEM teacher and coach. Her role not only includes teaching over 500 students in her school, but also leading professional development and co-teaching with teachers to help them integrate STEM & Technology.

With over a decade of experience along with a M.Ed. in STEM Leadership and STEM certificate, she helps teachers navigate the best practices, strategies and tools out there.

She truly believes that any teacher out there can learn how to use STEM & Technology in their classrooms effectively. She can’t wait to connect with you and be your guide!

More About The Elementary STEM Coach Podcast

Are you tired of scrolling online for your next great STEM lesson? Do you feel like there is no time to plan, research and test meaningful STEM lessons, so you throw together a hands-on activity and hope that it works? What systems and routines should you set in place to help students be creative, critically think, and collaborate? 

The Elementary STEM Coach is a podcast for K-5 STEM teachers, classroom teachers, GT specialists, and homeschool parents looking for actionable STEM solutions. Each week, Naomi Meredith will share tools, resources and lesson ideas that are actionable in your classroom and create highly engaging experiences with your students. You’ll learn systems and routines that will create control in the chaos and that will keep you organized all year long. 

Your mindless scrolling days are over! Your new STEM-best friend is now here in your ear buds!

spider-stem-activities

Spider STEM Activities & Technology Lessons

Spider STEM Activities & Technology Lessons

spider-stem-activities

Add a little bit of spookiness with these spider STEM activities. These lessons not only compliment fall lesson plans, but even units that correlate with other creepy, crawling units. Check out these variety of ideas to add into your classroom!

*There are Amazon affiliate links in this post. When you purchase through my link, no extra cost to you but I get a kick-back in return. Thank you for your support! 

 

Spider STEM Activities #1: Spider Pulleys

Help students learn about structure and design by building a pulley to pull the spider up the web.

Students will go through the Engineering Design Process to accomplish this challenge.

spider-stem-activitieslWhen trying this with my K-5 STEM classes, I used:

Click here to get this challenge for your class!

 

Spider STEM Activities #2: Spider Life Cycle Coding

Teaching the life cycle of living objects is always fascinating. Why not make it even more fun by adding in an element of coding?

Help student solidify their new vocabulary by coding the life cycle of a spider by using robots.

Not sure which robots to use? Check out my robot recommendation list here!

There are 3 ways to try this coding challenge once the cards are printed out and laid out on a grid:

  1. Teacher lays out the cards on the mat and students code the life cycle in order
  2. Pair up students. Partner A lays the cards on the mat, Parter B codes in order. Then switch!
  3. Same as above, but code the life cycle backwards.
  4. Print & create the dice included ahead of time. Roll the dice and students code the robot to that location. Try adding in two dice for an extra challenge!

Click here to get this challenge for your class!

 

Spider STEM Activities #3: Spider Science Foldable Books

Integrate the theme of spiders in your literacy instruction! There are 3 interactive, foldable books for students to learn more about these arachnids.

spider-stem-activities

  • The Spider Life Cycle
  • What is a Spider?
  • Fun Spider Facts

As students read, they will have a task on each page to help solidify their comprehension and vocabulary development. There are digital options as well, including pre-made Seesaw Activities, that can make using this lesson even easier.

I even added audio for every page to help support students and while learning new vocabulary.

Click here to get this lesson for your class! 

spider-stem-activities

Spider STEM Activities #4: Spider Digital Interactive Notebook

Help students’ build their online literacy skills by trying a digital interactive notebook for the week. I typically use these with 3rd grade and up since these types of lessons have a lot of multi-step directions.

Students will learn and respond about spiders from a variety of resources. All of the sources are linked within the entire notebook. No need to search for resources on your own!

spider-stem-activities

Tasks include:

  • Before exploration reflection
  • Vocabulary
  • Videos
  • Photograph Observations
  • Individual Articles
  • Paired Selections & Comparison
  • Reading & labeling a Diagram
  • Map & Noticings
  • Podcast & Reflection
  • Digital Creation

Click here to get this lesson for your class!

 

Spider STEM Activities #5: Halloween Engineer Inspiration Board

Enhance your STEM & Makerspace stations with this student Engineer Inspiration Board. Use this board to inspire young engineers to build various things that represent Halloween.

Using any materials on hand, students have the opportunity to build:

  • cauldron
  • monster
  • candy
  • spider
  • candy bucket
  • ghost
  • witch hat
  • haunted house
  • pumpkin

 

This is a way to inspire students to be creative and imagine new solutions to design these items. Step-by-step directions are not included to tell students how to build each one.

As a bonus, planning, improving and sharing pages are included to help introduce the Engineering Design Process.

Click here to grab this challenge for your class!

spider-stem-activities

Other blog posts you might be interested in:

Fall STEM Activities by Innovative Teacher Podcast

Pumpkin STEM Activities & Technology Lessons by Naomi Meredith

Best Robots for Kids for STEM & Technology Lessons by Naomi Meredith

How to Use a Digital Interactive Notebook in the Classroom by Naomi Meredith

 

spider-stem-activities

Have you tried spider themed activities your classroom? Feel free to direct message me on Instagram, @naomimeredith_ and I would love to chat with you!