One of my favorite things to do is bring each season into the classroom in a fun and hands-on way. During Halloween, Halloween STEM activities are a fun way to bring the creepy side of Halloween into the classroom.
Nothing is slimier and grosser than slime recipes, and we’ve made the science experiment even grosser by adding skull and cross bone erasers to it. Skull slime is the perfect activity for a Halloween party, or a super fun party favor. It’s classroom-friendly nature makes it perfect for science lessons during October.
Kids will think you are the coolest teacher ever if you let them play and learn with this spooky slime.
How to Make the Skull Slime Recipe
The skull slime recipe is a slight variation on our classic laundry starch slime recipe. Make sure to read that post for all the tips you need to make your slime come out perfectly every time.
As a brief overview, however, when we make slime, we use a 1:1:1 ratio with water, starch, and glue.
Using this ratio, the slime comes out perfectly almost every time.
What you’ll need to make skull slime:
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Elmer’s Liquid School Glue, Premium Clear, Washable, 1 Gallon, 1 Count – Great For Making SlimeFood Coloring Liqua-Gel – 6 Color Rainbow Kit in .75 fl. oz. (20ml) BottlesPurex Sta-Flo Liquid Starch, 64 OunceOriginal Stationery Arts and Crafts Glitter Shake Jars, Extra Fine, 24 Multi color Set
- Elmer’s clear glue
- Black food coloring
- Skull and crossbones erasers (we used these)
- Liquid laundry starch
My preschooler added green play dough to our skull’s eyes to make them more dramatic. She was definitely wanting to up the creep factor.
Mix your food coloring, glue and water in a container.
Add the starch.
Mix until it is no longer sticky and pulls easily between your fingers. Depending on the day, this can take just a minute, or up to five minutes.
Once the slime is stretchy and doesn’t stick to your fingers, it’s ready to play with.
Add the bones, and let the learning begin!
What Kids Can Learn By Making Slime
Typically, we focus on the science of polymer bonds when we make slime, but this time, I wanted to focus on something a little different. This time when making slime, we focused on intermolecular forces, and how and why different molecules will bond in certain ways. In the case of slime, the borax in the laundry starch mixes with the molecules in the glue, creating covalent bonds. Once bonded, the two ingredients will not come unbonded.
Want More Halloween STEAM? (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math)
Download our free printable Halloween STEM activities calendar!
Find more amazing Halloween STEAM activities in the STEAM Kids Halloween book!
