Googie Math / Art

Free Download: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1NP0t-fn9RroznPtcnbsyS_y43rpV9J6h/view?usp=sharing

Practice your money skills and get creative with Shel Silverstein's "The Googies are Coming," from Where the Sidewalk Ends. What is a googie? Who knows?! Have kids write a definition for a googie. Next have them make a snapshot image of a googie. Then kids add up the cost of certain children! Once they figured out the different costs, they become googies and choose 5 children (draw/ add up the cost). 

Note: Tell kids googies want children to play with, so no one gets scared!

Cryptozoology: Learning with Cryptids

Kids turn into cryptozoologists and study 3 cryptids closely: Sasquatch, Loch Ness Monster and Chupacabra. Then they create a field report on any cryptid they would like to investigate!

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1SXe6idap5PZ6PnJmvprjRjpay7mcfLy_/view?usp=sharing

Includes:
List of 50 Cryptids
Top 10 Cryptids That Turned Out to be Real
Task Sheets for the 3 Cryptids: math / art projects with measuring, fictional sighting report writing, adaptation activity and survey / data collection
Adapation Recording Sheets for the 3 Cryptids
Bar Graph Sheets for the 3 Cryptids
Field Report Assignment to Research Any Cryptid

Halloween Math Art Projects

Check out my We Are Teachers post: 3 Halloween Art Projects that Incorporate Math!

The Bones of a Good Essay

Check out my post at We Are Teachers: Teach students about how to write a good essay - free task cards (visual / tactile learning) and body motions to teach essay organization skills (kinesthetic).

Plus, there is a free poster created by We Are Teachers and Zaner Bloser.

Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF

Visit We Are Teachers to check out my post on ways to tie Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF into your curriculum!

Taste the Rainbow

Skittles Exploration
1. Online collaboration project - skype and compare results with schools across the U.S. (Registration opens March 1)
2. Skittles Density Column - Cool Science at Home
3. Skittle Chromatography - Awesome Crazy Guyz
4. Skittle Color Separation - Parents: Homeschool Den
5. Fizzle a Skittle - Gigi Reviews
6. Skittles Riddle Book - Fun with a variety of math concepts
7. Skittle Arrays / Fractions - click here
8. Crack a skittle open like a clam shell?! - Parenting

Free Printables!
1. Skittles Graph, Tally, Sort - Golden Gang Kindergarten
2. Skittles Math Center - Erica Bohrer's First Grade
3. Skittles Place Value - Beacon Learning
4. Skittles Fractions - NWACC

Online Tool
Pie chart creator

Candy Art

Explore multiplication and fractions by creating a candy art array! Kids create an image using colored candy. They must use their problem solving skills because their candy must line up evenly to create an array. When they're finished with their candy picture, they write down the multiplication equation that matches their array. Then, they write down the fraction for each color they used. Visit Candy Art for more intricate designs to get kids inspired!

Note: For this activity, split kids up into teams. Then, they can collaborate and create larger designs.

Ewww! POOF!

Have kids create their very own unique, one of a kind, magic potion! Kids name their potion, draw the ingredients in each flask, and write the ingredients. They write the number of each item needed in the small square boxes and the items on each line. For example, 5 zombie nails, 8 oz. of pink slime, and 7 fireflies. After they fill out their potion recipe sheet, they write about what happens when they combine their ingredients. POOF! - their potion turned into.....

Pumpkin Laboratory

After you have your pumpkin laboratory, save your pumpkins and grow a pumpkin in a pumpkin! Click here for details!

Candy Exploration Lab

Don't eat all of your Halloween candy! Instead, create a candy exploration lab!

Featured Above:
1. Steve Spangler - Skittles Chromatography, Floating M's, Gobstopper Color Separation, and more candy chemistry!

2. Science Matters - Candybar Density - Do nuts make a difference?

3. Classroom Magic - Volume of funsize candybars, plus free printable for the activity!

4. What are we doing today Mom? - SweetTart Weathering and Erosion

For more candy exploration visit CandyExperiments.com and Science Gal

Pumpkin Dentist

2 ways to play: Kids roll one die (practice counting) or two dice (practice addition skills), and add candy corn teeth to their pumpkin! Whoever fills their pumpkin's mouth with a full set of teeth first wins! - or - Fill the pumpkin's mouth with a set of teeth. Kids roll the dice. Then, they remove the number of teeth that the dice land on. Whoever removes all of their pumpkin's teeth first wins!

Print 2 copies (for 2 players) of the worksheet below and cover with contact paper. (Note - you can substitute candy corn with pumpkin seeds)

Halloween Case Files

Can your students figure out what ______ and his / her friends did on Halloween, using their inference skills? Choose different items to put in manila envelopes or paper lunch bags. Kids examine the different items and come up with explanations for them. 

Item ideas:
pumpkin seeds - carved a pumpkin
funny glasses - halloween disguise
face paint - disguise
cape - superhero
green nose with a wart - witch 
furry, pointy ears headband - cat 
vampire teeth - yikes!
apple - bobbing for apples
cracked egg shell - someone played a trick!
toilet paper - a trick or a mummy!
streamers - they were at a party!
red solo cup - punch ;)
empty cake mix box - halloween party cake!
muffin tin - cupcakes!
leaves - they were outside, jumped in a pile of leaves!
thermal underwear - it was cold outside!
candy wrappers - went trick or treating and ate all of their candy!
flashlight - they were out late at night
cob webs - they were in an old, dirty place (haunted house!?)
slime - monster slime?!
do not enter sign - uh-oh!
tombstone - they were at the cemetery!
note that says "be home by 8:00, love mom" - they had a curfew
watch that says 10:00 - they stayed out past their curfew!
fast food wrapper - dinner or late night snack?!
Add anything you'd like!

Based on the items, students guess how many kids went trick or treating and what they were dressed as. Then, they figure out what they did that night, maybe went to a party? Did they play any tricks? Get creative with different items. 

Candy Solar System

Blast through a sweet candy solar system! I saw this fun, edible activity over at Zanghi. It's hard to find candy spot on in size, but kids get an understanding of planet dimensions by using Academic and Sports Program's solar system control sheet.

Candy - Try to find round candies in various sizes, examples: butterscotch, pop rocks, sno-caps, m&m's, peppermints, life savers, whoppers, gumdrops to represent each planet. For super tiny planets, you could also use nerds or mini m&m's. For larger planets, try using gumballs, jaw breakers, or nilla wafers. 

Instead of candy, you could also mold planets with play-doh, use marbles / bouncy balls / other sphere or circular shaped toys, beads / gems, whatever you'd like!

Hershey Fractions

Make fractions sweet with Hershey's chocolate. Split children up into groups and have each group come up with some fractions using their chocolate bar. Have the groups of students draw their fractions with a brown crayon or marker on a sheet of paper. For more Hershey fraction fun, check out the book The Hershey's Milk Chocolate Fraction Book.

Catch a Spider Web

via the magnifying glass

Catch a real spider web on paper! Kids can study spider silk and patterns up close! Visit The Magnifying Glass for the full tutorial!

Spinning Webs

Create your own spider web! Kids "spin" glue, constructing realistic, transparent webs! Visit The Shed and Beyond for the full tutorial!

Pop Rocks and Soda: An Experiment on Matter

Try this fun science experiment on matter, dissolving pop rocks in a bottle of soda to create a gas to inflate a balloon! 

Experiment questions: 
1. Will a physical or chemical reaction occur if we dissolve pop rocks into soda? 
2. Can we produce a gas by dissolving a solid into a liquid?
3. Can we inflate a balloon with pop rocks and soda?
4. (The old myth) If a human consumes pop rocks and soda, will their stomach truly explode?!

Predict how big the balloon will get when the pop rocks mix with soda. Will it even blow up at all? Draw and label your solid, liquid, and gas.

directions:
1. Pour pop rocks into an empty 9 inch balloon
2. Open your soda (12-16 oz bottle) and attach the balloon (don't let the pop rocks fall in just yet) 
3. Lift up on the balloon and drop all of the pop rocks into the soda. What happened? 

Answer: The balloon doesn't inflate very much. Will you explode if you consume pop rocks and soda? From the results of this experiment- No! So, go on and munch on pop rocks and soda! 

"Mixing Pop Rocks with soda is a physical reaction - not a chemical reaction. Soda dissolves the candy. Most of the carbon dioxide in the balloon came from the soda. Dropping Pop Rocks into soda causes some of the carbon dioxide from the soda to escape. That's the real reason why the balloon inflates." via Steve Spangler

Growing Gummy Bears

Check out the gummy bear below that Science Matters grew! Who knew gummies could expand so much when submerged in water?! 

Experiment - Keep gummy bears submerged in water at least overnight. The longer you leave them in the water, the more dramatic the results! Measure, weigh, and feel the gummy bears. Compare them to a "regular" gummy bear. What differences do you see? Did the gummy bears undergo a physical or chemical change?

photo via science matters

A Survival Guide to Middle School took this experiment further. They put a gummy bear in tap water and one in salt water. Check out their red gummy bears featured left! Visit A Survival Guide to Middle School for lab questions and worksheets to go along with the activity. 

Invisible Ink: Ghost Writer!

Kids can transform into mini detectives, writing secret messages and codes with lemon juice!

1. Squeeze the juice of a lemon.

2. Dip a q-tip in the lemon juice and write on white paper.

3. To reveal the secret message, hold the paper up to a heat source (lightbulb, hairdryer, or candle)

Scientific Sound Effects

Make a balloon scream with a hex nut or coins! Visit Steve Spangler for the explanation behind screaming science! For screaming balloon instructions click here!