Witchcraft and Eerily Beautiful Chemistry
At the Kinder Academy's Halloween demonstration lecture, about 70 children experienced surprising experiments, during which some of the children were allowed to help out themselves.
On October 30, 2026, things got spookily fun again at Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences. As part of the Kinder Academy, the Chemistry Department hosted the second Halloween edition of its demonstration lecture under the theme “Halloween 2026 – The Spooky Chemistry Lecture 2.0.” About 70 children and numerous other guests from across Upper Lusatia attended.
The Kinder Academy offers children ages eight to twelve exciting insights into various scientific disciplines. The Faculty of Natural and Environmental Sciences regularly participates in this program with age-appropriate and entertaining demonstration lectures.
A Visit with Head Witch Anna
This year, the theme was all about witches and magic. Head Witch Anna led the program and was assisted by her assistant witches Ria and Maria, as well as the young witches Bibi Blocksberg, Flauipaui, and Schubia. In addition to impressive gymnastics routines and musical performances, the demonstration experiments were particularly awe-inspiring. The children were also given the chance to get hands-on and lend a hand to the witches in their witch’s kitchen.
Color-Changing and Glowing Peppermint Tea
For example, two children helped conjure up “magical drinks.” As the initially colorless liquid was poured from one glass into another, it first turned pink, then yellow, then colorless again, followed by red, and finally dark blue. The secret lay in the additives that were already in the glasses. Some color changes resulted from shifts in the pH level and corresponding color indicators, while others were caused by the formation of differently colored iron compounds.
In further experiments, one child made peppermint tea glow pink in the dark, while another helped with “brewing” beer chemically. Help was also needed to clean up the mess in the witch’s kitchen. During this, one child managed to make things disappear. All the children who participated in the experiments were given safety goggles.
At the end, a prize was awarded for the best Halloween costume. The varied program and the experiments were prepared and carried out with great dedication by the team led by Matthias Jeschke, Dipl.-Chem. (FH).
A heartfelt thank you goes out to all participants as well as the team at the Kinder Academy for their support and organization. One thing is certain: Chemistry will work its magic again in 2026!
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