By Emma Vanstone 1 Comment
Halloween is just around the corner, so there’s no better time to make some spooky witches’ potions. Potions are a much loved activity at any time of year in our house, but especially so at Halloween! Take a look through this collection of fizzing potions, slimy potions, colour-changing potions and even dry ice potions and let us know if you try any.
Teaching with Potions
Potion making is a great activity just for fun, but it can also include lots of learning opportunities.
- Weigh and measure out ingredients.
- Learn about density and how liquids of different densities can be stacked in a column.
- Use a measuring jug to measure specific amounts of liquids.
- Learn about simple chemical reactions with baking soda and vinegar.
The BEST Witches Potions
Fizzy Witch Laboratory
Fizzy potions are easy to make with baking soda and vinegar and look very impressive. I set up a fizzy witches lab for my daughter, and she loved it.
I used test tubes instead of larger containers as it meant she could experiment easily with different colours and allowed her to make lots of eruptions with only a small amount of baking soda and vinegar.
What you need to make fizzy potions
Baking Soda ( Bicarbonate of Soda )
Food colouring
Vinegar
Test tubes or other container
Pipette
Water
How to make a fizzy witch potions
Place a teaspoon of baking soda, a little water and a few drops of food colouring into each test tube.
Use the pipette to add vinegar to each tube. The mixture should fizz up out of the test tube.
TOP TIP – to make an extra foamy potion, add a little dish soap ( washing up liquid ) before adding the vinegar.
Experiment with different amounts of baking soda, washing-up liquid and vinegar to find the perfect fizz!
Spider Slime
This stretchy slime has a great texture and is very easy to make. It can be squished, stretched and poured and feels deliciously gloopy and slimy!
What you need:
Chia seeds
PVA glue
Cornflour
Water
How to make spider slime
Soak the chia seeds in water for a few hours.
When the chia seeds look thick and slimy, add a dollop of PVA glue and enough cornflour to make the mixture thick and gloopy. For a drier slime, add more cornflour.
If you’re worried about children trying to eat the slime, you can miss out on the PVA glue. It just won’t stretch as well.
Magic Colour Changing Potions
Colour changing potions using red cabbage indicator are a great first introduction to acids and alkalis. Children can experiment to find out how many different colours they can make!
To make the red cabbage indicator, you just boil red cabbage in water for about 5 minutes. The red cabbage water is the indicator. It changes colour depending on whether an acid or alkali is added.
I used vinegar, lemon juice and baking soda to create the colours below.
Edible Magic Potion
I really love the look of this steamy potion over on Fun Crafts Kids. Remember to check out the safety warnings first.
Goblin Snot Juice
We shared some easy potion ideas with Day Out With The Kids a while ago. Including creepy Goblin Snot Juice and colour-changing bat brot!
This potion is green water with a layer of oil on the top. If the container is shaken, the mixture separates out into oil and water again!
Witchy Density Jar
This witchy density jar is made in a similar way. Just pour coloured water into a jar with a layer of oil on the top, then try to find different creepy objects to float on the layers.
We found a bouncy ball eyeball floated on the top, and a coin sank to the bottom.
More Potion Ideas for Kids
Print my FREE fizzy potion recipe and create your own potion with the blank recipe page.
More potion ideas for Halloween
The Imagination Tree has a beautiful Fairy Potion that you could turn into a Halloween potion.
We love the look of this polyjuice potion from This Grandma is Fun, too.
If you’re looking for an easy Halloween costume idea, Red Ted Art is full of inspiration!
More Halloween Science Ideas
Try our Halloween party science ideas, including fake blood, pumpkin lava lamps and spider decorations.
My new book Gross Science, is jam packed full of gruesome, sticky and slimy science experiments for kids! Make jelly scabs, chocolate poo, slimy slugs, a blood model and lots more experiments sure to creep out your friends and family!
I’ve also got an exciting collection of Halloween STEM Challenges you might like. Including spider drawing robots, blowing up pumpkin balloons and more!
Last Updated on October 13, 2023 by Emma Vanstone
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Safety Notice
Science Sparks ( Wild Sparks Enterprises Ltd ) are not liable for the actions of activity of any person who uses the information in this resource or in any of the suggested further resources. Science Sparks assume no liability with regard to injuries or damage to property that may occur as a result of using the information and carrying out the practical activities contained in this resource or in any of the suggested further resources.
These activities are designed to be carried out by children working with a parent, guardian or other appropriate adult. The adult involved is fully responsible for ensuring that the activities are carried out safely.
Reader Interactions
Comments
David CameronThese are going to be a great display for the next Halloween celebrations. Great experiments with some easy to find materials. Thank you Emma!
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