Looking to unload some of your kids’ massive candy stash? Make like Bill Nye and use it up in the name of science. From melting marshmallows to growing Gummy Bears, make good use your leftover Halloween sweets with these 10 yummy experiments. Bonus points for making a hypothesis and taking notes on each project!
Skittles Rainbow
You’ll be doing more than just tasting the rainbow. Put some Skittles into water and marvel as the colored coating dissolves into an Instagram-worthy design. Head to Little Bins for Little Hands to get the science behind the sugar.
Exploding Peep Geysers
Poor Peeps; they’re just so much fun to torture. This easy science experiment teaches your kids a little bit about how microwaves work— at the expense of a few marshmallow candies. Just put those Peeps into a bottle, stick ‘em in the microwave, and watch as they erupt. It’s quick and sticky fun, but kids will love watching those sugary faces expand and explode. Get all the details at Housing a Forest.
photo: Steve Spangler’s Geyser Tubes on Amazon
Make a Mentos Geyser
Kids will happily hand over an entire pack of Mentos to watch a soda geyser explode skyward. Just drop a few Mentos into a bottle of soda and stand back! Charlene at My Frugal Adventures explains how it’s done. Psst! If you don’t feel like assembling the ingredients yourself, you can buy an actual Mentos Geyser Tube online.
Gummy Bear Science
Plunk a few Gummy Bears into different solutions and let them sit for a few days to see what happens. Kids will love checking in on their bears every day for a status update. Get more ideas on how to do it here.
Take the “m” Off the m&ms
M&Ms may not melt in your hands, but it turns out they may not last so long when plopped into a cup of water. Kids will love watching the “m” peel off their m&ms; parents will love the patience this experiment requires of their little scientists. Little Bins for Little Hands has the scoop.
photo: Courtesy Bitz ‘n Giggles
Dancing Gummy Worms
Observe as a simple chemical reaction makes a bunch of yummy Gummy Worms come alive. Younger kids will think you’ve actually put life into candy; older kiddos will be simply mesmerized. Sara at Bitz ‘n Giggles takes you step by step through the process (Note: Make sure your baking soda is fresh; we tried this with long-opened baking soda and our worms hardly moved.).
photo: Christie at Childhood 101
Jellybean Taste Test
Your child might say he likes blue jelly beans the best, but is it a taste thing? This experiment explores the relationship between sight and taste as kids are asked to identify the kind of bean they’re tasting without seeing it. Christie at Childhood 101 has more.
photo: Courtesy Reading Confetti
Sink or Float – Hypothesis Tester
This experiment lets kids make a hypothesis and test it. Which candies will sink, which will float— and why? Get more ideas here.
photo: Trisha Stanley via Inspiration Laboratories
Balancing with M&Ms
Give kids a simple physics lesson with this experiment that lets them balance various objects against a handful of m&ms. Another opportunity for kids to hypothesize— and a great excuse for them to eat enough m&ms to make the scale even. Get inspired from Mama Trisha at Inspiration Laboratories.
Candy + Balloons + Soda = ??
See what happens when you fill a balloon with Pop Rocks and dump it all into a bottle of soda. Then, try it again with Nerds candy. Your kids will be amazed at which one blows the bigger balloon. Get the simple steps over at Learn Play Imagine.
Which one will you try with your kid? Share with us in a comment below!
—Melissa Heckscher
