Halloween is perfect for a few crazy, and a bit scary, science activities! So this week, we are sharing a crazy color-change activity, plus a few other Halloween science activity round-ups to give you a few ideas.

Part color-change, part stink-up-the-kitchen – this Halloween science activity requires a bit of preparation, but it is totally worth it. Plus in the process, you can teach your kids about acids and bases.

Let's dig in...

Crazy Colors {A Halloween Science Activity}

Materials Needed

• A head of red cabbage
• Knife
• Pot
• Water
• Strainer
• Clear glass or plastic container
• Ammonia

Steps to Complete

1. Chop up a third of the red cabbage head. Place it in the pot and cover it with water. Bring the water to a boil and let it boil for 10 to 15 minutes – basically until the water is a deep purple color.
2. Let cool the red cabbage juice before straining about a cup of the liquid into the clear glass or plastic container.
3. In front of the peeps, you want to fool, add a tablespoon or so of ammonia. (You should see the liquid go from deep purple to bright neon green! If you don’t, add more ammonia.)
4. If you want to add a bit more, you can always add some white vinegar to change things back to purple and then pink, which is really fun too!

Results and Explanation

Red cabbage juice acts as an indicator of pH, which is a fancy way of saying that it changes color – in the presence of an acid.

The juice can turn pink and in the presence of a base, it can turn bright green. Ammonia is a base, vinegar is an acid.

Additional Halloween Science Activities

Need a few more ideas for adding some science to your Halloween festivities? Here are two Halloween science activity round-up:

• Top 10 Science Experiments for Halloween
• 20 Must-try Halloween Science Activities

And when the holiday is done, you can use science to get rid of some of that candy!