🎃 Join Emily “The Space Gal” Calandrelli as she creates a foamy pumpkin eruption while exploring chemical reactions, carbon dioxide gas, and the scientific method. In this interactive digital STEM activity, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade students watch Emily combine everyday materials in the Barfing Pumpkins experiment and investigate what makes the bubbling mixture expand and overflow.
No science unit required! ⭐ This activity is designed to stand on its own, so students do not need prior knowledge of chemical reactions or gas formation. Background information and science vocabulary help students understand and enjoy the investigation.
Big science concepts made simple. ✨ Clear, kid-friendly explanations help students explore how combining certain substances can produce a gas—and how that gas can create a foamy eruption!
📢 This no-prep STEM activity is an easy way to bring an engaging science experiment into your classroom—even when you do not have the time, materials, or capacity to conduct experiments yourself! Students can watch Emily’s experiment and complete the digital activities without gathering experiment materials.
In this digital science activity, students will explore:
✅ How baking soda and vinegar react to produce carbon dioxide gas.
✅ How dish soap helps trap gas in bubbles to create foam.
✅ How growing numbers of gas-filled bubbles make the foamy mixture expand and overflow.
✅ How the ingredients serve different purposes in the experiment.
✅ How scientists make predictions, record observations, and use evidence to explain what happens.
✅ How changing materials or variables could affect an experiment’s results.
Students begin with kid-friendly background information and science vocabulary before joining Emily for the Barfing Pumpkins experiment. They observe the bubbling mixture and investigate the chain of events that turns a chemical reaction into a foamy pumpkin eruption.
Throughout the activity, digital science notebook responses, prediction questions, drag-and-drop activities, and interactive checks for understanding keep students actively involved. Students record observations, explore the roles of different ingredients, and connect the expanding foam to the production of carbon dioxide gas.
Students also think like scientists by considering what might happen if something changed. They evaluate explanations and distinguish ideas supported by the experiment’s evidence from those that are not.
After the experiment, students complete a quiz to show what they learned.
This activity provides elementary students with meaningful exposure to chemical reactions and scientific investigation without requiring connection to a larger science unit. The goal is not for students to master the chemistry of acid-base reactions. Instead, students use a high-interest experiment and interactive activities to build curiosity, practice scientific thinking, and begin to understand how combining substances can produce observable changes.
Perfect for:
🎃 Pumpkin or Halloween science activities
🧪 STEM lessons or science enrichment
🫧 Chemical reaction and gas formation investigations
🔬 Scientific method practice
⭐ Fun Friday or special science activities
💻 Digital centers or independent learning
🚀 Gifted enrichment or extension activities
📚 Sub plans or low-prep science days
🏠 Homeschool science
✨ Anytime you want to add fun, meaningful science to your day!
This engaging resource makes it easy to provide elementary students with a colorful, memorable science experience through Emily Calandrelli and MagiCore.
✨ MagiCore WebLink Digital Resource – This science activity uses the power of MagiCore’s WebLink for an interactive browser-based experience that is easy to use and keeps students engaged and learning. Students click the link or snap the QR code to access the activity on their device. No prep. No copies. No logins. Once you try a MagiCore WebLink activity, you’ll never look at Google Slides the same way again. CLICK HERE to experience it for yourself!
About Emily ‘The SpaceGal’ Calandrelli
Emily Calandrelli is a science communicator, author, engineer, and space traveler who makes science exciting and accessible for kids. MagiCore is proud to partner with Emily Calandrelli to bring interactive science lessons, experiments, and activities to students everywhere. Through Emily’s Science Lab activities by MagiCore, students explore big science ideas in fun, engaging, and easy-to-understand ways that spark curiosity and deepen understanding. Emily’s passion for STEM inspires young learners to ask questions, think like scientists, and discover how science works in the world around them.
NOTE: This science activity is digital. It is NOT printable. The final screens include a summary of student responses and an option to view or print a completion certificate with the student’s name.
*Videos are not hosted on YouTube. This resource does not require YouTube access.
Key Features:
⚡ Immediate Student Feedback! Students will see if their answers are correct or incorrect for each question or activity.
What’s Included?
This activity is self-correcting and provides students with immediate feedback.
This resource is suitable for the following grade levels:
Time to Complete:
This science activity takes approximately 45 minutes to complete. The time it takes to complete can vary based on your students.
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