Colorful Candy Science

Too much candy after Halloween? Put some of your trick-or-treat candy to scientific use with a hands-on project. This crowd-pleasing STEM activity turns colorful candies into a visual treat for students and a lesson in molecular diffusion.

Simple Candy STEM

All you need to do this science activity is colorful candies, a small bowl (or plate), and water. Line the candies up in a ring around the edge of the bowl, slowly pour water into the center of the bowl, and watch what happens!

Whether you use stopwatches to time the reaction with different kinds of candies, test different temperatures of water, or just enjoy the flow of color that appears, this is a fun STEM activity for all ages!

Get full step-by-step directions and learn more about the science behind this activity in this week's featured family science activity at Scientific American: Find the Candy Rainbow with Chemistry

What colorful designs will you create? Which candies work best? What is the biggest design you can create?

Science They can See

Take a closer look at the colorful reaction in this timelapse video:

Related Science

For other candy- and color-based hands-on STEM projects and activities that you can do with students, see the following:

• Make a Milk Rainbow
• Valentine's Day Candy Science
• Colorful STEM Projects for Summer Science Fun
• Candy Color Chromatography
• Colorful Sharpie Tie-Dye Science

You Might Also Enjoy these Previous Entries:

• Spooktacular Halloween Science
• Pumpkin Power Project
• Halloween Robots
• Candy Color Chromatography
• The Physics of Fake Blood
• Wire Some Trick-or-Treat or Light-up Fun with Scratch and Raspberry Pi
• Halloween STEM Roundup
• Squash Power