Lots of kids learn how to do tie dye, but the fifth graders at Wilder Elementary got a dose of art and science today when yours truly and art teacher extraordinare, Jill Day, approached the activity from a slightly different angle. You won’t find the science of tie dye in the fifth grade curriculum, but today’s lesson was both a gift from the Wilder staff and PTO and a rite of passage as these students move onto middle school. From the science perspective, the students learned about three “secrets” of tie dye, and on the art side, Mrs. Day covered the coolest way to use colors in a tie dye pattern.

In addition to washing their tie dye t-shirts tonight, the students were invited to share some of the “secrets” they learned and some of the finer points of learning the “real” tie dye methods (as one of the students said, “Direct from the tie dye hippie artists to our classroom!”) The students will be posting their comments all night long… check back tomorrow and we’ll even have some pictures and video up on the site.

Popularity: 12% [?]

Hats off to Martha Stewart for job well done on her glow-in-the-dark pumpkins (okay, she called them funkins featured on October 26, 2007, on her television show. Our Media Product Coordinator, Brian Firooz, worked with the segment producer for several weeks to create a very cool effect using our Glow Powder and a little Martha Stewart creativity. The end result was a very cool glow-in-the-dark effect that was enhanced even more by using a black light. 

Popularity: 8% [?]

I love Halloween. One of my favorite activities is to “carve” pumpkins using a simple reation inside the fruit. First, you carve the face then carefully replace pieces. After creating a reaction by generating a gas inside and igniting it (ask your local chemistry teacher for the details) the face pieces are blown off with a small explosion.

Halloween is more than 100 days away and I just couldn’t wait. So I initiated the new weather anchor at the local Denver television station by introducing her to carving watermelons. The problem was, we didn’t really carve the watermelon, it exploded. Watch the Video to see how we skipped right over the carving and went straight to exploding.

Popularity: 91% [?]

I’m not sure if Halloween was better for me as a kid or right now as an adult… okay, it’s better now! It’s no secret that I make the most out of every Halloween - from the oozing slime at school to the ghoulish fun at home, Halloween is the perfect time to let your creativity out for an evening of fun.

I think it all started growing up in a family where my parents turned Halloween into a full fledged show. I learned not to bother my Dad after about two o’clock in the afternoon on Halloween because he was getting the entry way of our home ready for those poor unsuspecting Trick-or-Treaters. My favorite memory was getting to sit in his home-made electric chair - complete with blinking lights and giant sparks of static electricity coming from the metal hat. It was great! When the doorbell rang, it was showtime… and my job was to yell at the top of my lungs, “Hey Mister… all I wanted was a lousy piece of candy!” We never gave away much candy on Halloween - no one ever stuck around long enough to ask for candy, but lots of kids brought back their parents for the show. We always ended up with a house filled with people who loved Halloween as much as we did. I guess it just rubbed off on me… and now it’s my job to teach my three little boys the finer points of making Halloween fun.

Here are a few of our favorite Halloween science experiments…

Dry Ice Fun - Dry ice experiments and bubbling potions

Dry Ice Bubble - Make a dry ice crystal ball filled with smoke

Don’t miss the Exploding Pumpkins video

Note: The instructions for the Exploding Pumpkin are not available on this site for liability reasons. However, it is a favorite demo of chemistry teachers everywhere. If you want to do this demo, it’s time to make an appointment to visit your favorite chemistry teacher.

Real Slime! - Uncover the secret recipe for slime

Instant Worms - Make a batch of ooey gooey worms

Halloween Science Smoke Ring Launcher - Steve’s signature smoke ring trash can launcher

Elmer’s Glue Slime - The classic Borax and glue recipe

Bleeding Paper - This one is freaky!

Quicksand - This stuff feels like the real thing!

Screaming Cup - Make a weird, eerie sound using a cup and string

Popularity: 5% [?]

I’m not sure if Halloween was better for me as a kid or right now as an adult… but it’s no secret that I make the most out of every Halloween. As a holiday, Halloween has changed so much over the years. I never remember my parents being invited to an “adult�? Halloween party, but now these parties are more popular than ever. When my family and I arrived at a neighbor’s Halloween party last year, we were greeted by ghosts and goblins on the driveway who lead us through an awesome maze, into their hanunted house on our way into the party. The whole garage had been transformed into a full-blown haunted mansion! Yes, Halloween has changed over the years and this is part of the inspiration behind a our Halloween Science Kit.

As a teacher, I could hardly wait for the first of October to roll around so I could start planning my Halloween Science demos and activities for my students. Every year my Halloween Science unit grew… and so did the storage space I needed to keep everything. Beakers, graduated cylinders, cauldrons, static electricity machine, growing body parts… you name it and we probably have it in storage. I also found this addiction to be quite contagious. It didn’t take long to get my fellow teachers hooked on the idea of using this “crazy�? time of the year to actually teach some cool science. Every year my fellow teachers and I would add new demos and activities until we were bursting at the seams with a great Halloween Science unit.

We’re very proud of our Halloween Science Kit. It’s filled with lots of great science and the fun-factor is at an all-time high. Take a look and tell me what else you would have added from your collection of eerie science favorites.

Popularity: 5% [?]

Our week-long salute to amazing science teachers wraps up with a visit to Heritage High School in Littleton, Colorado, where chemistry teacher Wally Keesecker gets students fired up about science. Wally is well-known for his attention-grabbing science demos that introduce students to real-world connections to everyday chemistry.

Video: The Steve Spangler Mad Scientist Tour finishes the week with a bang at Heritage High School. 6 a.m. October 7, 2005.
This is an especially fun visit for Steve since Wally Keesecker was his 8th grade science teacher in the Littleton Public Schools. “People like me make the decision to go into education after being inspired by an amazing teacher. While I didn’t exactly know that I would one day become a science teacher, I knew that I wanted to do something in education after experiencing someone as amazing as Wally Keesecker,” says Steve Spangler who is like a kid in a candy store whenever he pays a visit to his former science teacher.

Wally and his teaching colleagues dazzled us with two demonstrations centered around a Halloween theme. The first demo illustrated a chemical reaction that oozed from the eyes and mouth of a carved pumpkin. Because of safety reasons, Mr. Keesecker did not share his secret recipe for the reaction he featured on television, but we learned that a similar effect can be achieved by placing a glass of hot water in the carved out pumpkin, add a squirt of Dawn dish soap to the water and drop in a chunk of dry ice. Bubbles filled with carbon dioxide gas will ooze from front of the pumpkin - very cool! Here are more Halloween Science demos you can try with dry ice.

 

 Online Video: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Popularity: 18% [?]

Halloween is right around the corner and it’s a perfect time to do some really cool demonstrations.

Watch the video of Steve doing cool dry ice demonstrations.

First you need to get your dry ice.

Your grocery store may have it, but if they don’t, you may have to look elsewhere. Years ago, Baskin Robins used to carry dry ice, because it was the only way to keep ice cream cold in the bottom of the cooler. That has mostly gone by the wayside, but there are still some old-fashioned ice cream shops around that may have dry ice. Another place you may be able to find it is at a fish or meat market.

Now, depending on where you are in the country will depend on how reluctant the person is to sell you dry ice. Safety issues are obviously paramount, and it is getting tougher and tougher to find a source.

Most of the time you will have to go to Customer Services and ask for it. Usually, I introduce myself, say that I am a teacher, and I will be doing some demonstrations for which I will need about 5-10lbs of dry ice. This assures them that I know what I am doing.

Ask them to reserve it for you, especially if you plan on doing your demonstrations at Halloween. I like to get my dry ice on the day that I will be doing the demonstration because, as you know, dry ice is not actually ice at all. It is frozen carbon dioxide. Instead of melting, it turns into a gas, and you may be wondering where your dry ice went to if you purchased it too early.

I have a cooler I use for the dry ice, some safety glasses, a small hammer and some leather gardening gloves, all of which are absolutely crucial from a safety point of view. At -110 deg to -78deg, touching dry ice will burn the skin, so gloves and safety glasses must be worn at all times.

10lbs of dry ice will cost you around $5 - $10. Put it in a brown paper bag, in fact double bag it, then drop it 3 or 4 times to break it up into smaller pieces, and you’re ready to go.

Tomorrow we will look at some really cool demonstrations we can do with dry ice. So get your materials ready!

Listen to my podcast on Halloween and dry ice

(File size is 1.5 MB) (Show length 6 minutes 35 seconds)

 

 Standard Podcast: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Popularity: 3% [?]