Make no bones about it—Halloween is a great time for spooky science, especially the science of bones! Scary skeletons turn into not so scary science of human bones in SMILE activities like Bone Bingo, Sketch a Skeleton, Bony "Win, Lose, or Draw," Body Parts, Macarena Bones and The Bone Zone. Try these at home, using simple materials like play dough, paper, markers, brads, straws, toothpicks, and cardboard tubes from toilet paper and paper towels.
Costume up and head out to "trick or treat" at a Halloween science event near you, sponsored by a local science center, children's museum or other public venue. The list of Halloween science events grows every year. Here are some locations to check out (contact individual organizations for specific calendar listings):
Science Spectrum, Lubbock, Texas
Morehead Planetarium and Science Center, Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Cranbrook Institute of Science in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan
Heard Natural Science Museum in McKinney, Texas
New York Hall of Science in New York City, New York
Lawrence Hall of Science, Berkeley, California.