Grade Celebrate STEM this Halloween by dressing up as a trailblazing woman scientist or engineer! We’ve created free costume guides for Marie Curie, Ellen Ochoa, Jane Goodall, Chien-Shiung Wu, and Katherine Johnson, and can’t wait for you to share their stories via costumes you create at home!
Each guide includes:
- a list of items to find around the house (or purchase) in order to create your outfit,
- a custom trick-or-treat bag to paint,
- and, in some cases, a DIY STEM project to build.
We’re also suggesting a book about each woman in STEM so you can learn about her achievements and tell everyone you meet her STEM story! We can’t wait for you to join us this year as we make Halloween STEM-tacular!
Women in STEM Costumes
Resource 1
The first woman to win a Nobel Prize. The first woman to earn a PhD in physics in France. The first person ever to be awarded two Nobel Prizes. Marie Curie’s list of firsts could go on and on, and her achievements changed the way we understand matter at a fundamental level. While her first Nobel Prize in physics was one awarded jointly to Curie, her husband Pierre, and Antoine Henri Becquerel for their work on radiation in 1903, her second in chemistry was entirely her own and recognized her discovery of radium and polonium (the latter named for her home country, Poland). Curie faced countless challenges – we’re all familiar with the stories that emphasize she “assisted” her husband with the work for the 1903 Nobel Prize although he repeatedly insisted that the opposite was the case – yet she persisted, working in her laboratory until her death in 1934 and paving the way for generations of women in STEM.
Here’s what you’ll need to dress up as Marie Curie for Halloween!
- White shirt with high neck: Amazon Link
- Long black skirt: Amazon Link
- Brown wig with a bun: Amazon Link
Marie was never far from her lab, and while radium doesn’t glow quite this green without some help from other elements, have fun with it and make your own glow-in-the-dark liquid with this awesome project from Sciencing! Put it in this Erlenmayer flask from Amazon to keep it authentic looking!
For your trick-or-treat bag, paint the symbol for radium – which Curie won a Nobel Prize for discovering – from the periodic table! You can purchase a canvas bag to paint at Amazon.
Can’t wait to learn even more about Marie? Check out Marie Isabel Sanchez Vegara’s illustrated biography Marie Curie (published in 2017).
Rosie Reads Marie Curie
https://handsonstem.rosieriveters.com/resources/rosie-reads-marie-curie/
Resource 2
Dr. Ellen Ochoa didn’t always dream of becoming an astronaut. Born and raised in southern California, she excelled in multiple subjects – music, business, math, journalism, computer science – and didn’t set her sights on space until she was in graduate school. It took Ochoa multiple tries to be accepted to NASA’s astronaut training program; when she finally boarded the space shuttle Discovery in 1993, she made history as the world’s first Latina astronaut. This was just the beginning of a long career at NASA; in 2012 Ochoa became the first person of Latin American descent to serve as Director of the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, and the second woman to ever hold the title. In addition to her ground-breaking career, Ochoa continued to devote herself to music – one of the most famous images of her shows her playing her flute while she was on board Discovery.
Here’s what you’ll need to dress up as Ellen Ochoa for Halloween!
- An orange top: Primary Link
- Orange pants: Primary Link
- NASA patches: Amazon Link
- Astronaut helmet: Amazon Link
- Brown wig: Amazon Link
If you want to save some time, you can order a NASA space suit instead of making one: Amazon Link
Ellen famously brought her flute with her on board Discovery, and played it as she flew weightlessly around the Earth. Make your very own flute using this super cool project from No Time for Flashcards!
For your trick-or-treat bag, paint the shuttle Discovery on a canvas bag! This is a great step-by-step guide to drawing a spaceship on YouTube, and you can purchase a canvas bag to paint at Amazon. Rather buy one pre-painted? Check this one out on Amazon.
Can’t wait to learn more about Ellen? Check out Julia Finley Mosca’s The Astronaut with a Song for the Stars: The Story of Dr. Ellen Ochoa (published in 2019)!
Rosie Talks to Ellen Ochoa
https://handsonstem.rosieriveters.com/resources/rosie-talks-to-ellen-ochoa/
Resource 3
Here’s what you’ll need to dress up as Chien-Shiung Wu for Halloween!
- Lab coat: Amazon link
- Pearl necklace: Amazon link
- Black wig: Amazon link
To complete your costume, you’ll need to make a life-size atomic model – essentially you’ll be the nucleus surrounded by orbital paths for electrons! To make this awesome STEM project, you’ll need:
- Two hula hoops: Amazon link (this one is a set of two!)
- Ball pit balls: Amazon link
- Zip ties or tape
- Scissors
Directions
- Wedge one hula hoop into the center of another hula hoop so that they create an “X” shape at the top and bottom. Secure the “X”s with a zip-tie or tape. This will create the orbital path for your electrons.
- Cut a hole out of the top and bottom of a ball pit ball with scissors and then cut a slit along one side of the ball from the top hole to the bottom hole.
- Wrap the ball pit ball around each orbital path (hula hoop) and secure with tape. You can use as many balls as you like, but make sure you know which element has that number of electrons! Use the periodic table at ptable.com for reference; remember that an element’s number of protons designates its atomic number, and in general, it’s number of protons will equal that of its electrons.
- When you’re ready to dress up, step into the center of the hula hoops and rest one of the “X”s behind your head, and the other in front of your legs.
For your trick-or-treat bag, paint the symbol for uranium – which Wu worked to separate into isotopes with other scientists on the Manhattan project – from the periodic table! You can purchase a canvas bag to paint at Amazon.
Can’t wait to learn more about Chien-Shiung? Check out Teresa Robeson’s Queen of Physics: How Wu Chien Shiung Helped Unlock the Secrets of the Atom (published in 2019)!
Rosie Reads Queen of Physics
https://handsonstem.rosieriveters.com/resources/rosie-reads-queen-of-physics-how-wu-chien-shiung-helped-unlock-the-secrets-of-the-atom/
Resource 4
Ever since she was little, Katherine Johnson longed to be a mathematician. But women’s careers were largely limited to teaching or nursing when she graduated from college in 1937. So Johnson taught math until she landed her dream job as a “computer” at the agency that would become NASA. There, her genius for math and determination in the face of rampant sexism and racism led to promotion after promotion. Astronaut John Glen trusted her calculations more than the nascent electronic computers NASA was beginning to employ, and it was her extraordinary ability to devise flight trajectories that brought Apollo 13 back to earth after an in-flight explosion in 1970. A trailblazer who co-authored 26 scientific papers throughout her career and was essential to the development of the American space program, Johnson was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2015.
Here’s what you’ll need to dress up as Katherine Johnson for Halloween!
- Pink dress: Amazon Link
- Peter Pan collar or shirt: Amazon Link
- Cat-eye glasses: Amazon Link
- NASA badge: Amazon Link
- Black wig: Amazon Link
For your trick-or-treat bag, paint space art on a canvas bag! Join amazing Rosie Innovator Gitika Gorthi as she shows you how to do it while providing an awesome lesson on the objects and appearance of space in this YouTube video. You’ll need paints, brushes, and a canvas bag to paint (available here at Amazon).
Can’t wait to learn even more about Katherine? Check out Helaine Becker’s illustrated biography Counting on Katherine: How Katherine Johnson Saved Apollo 13 (published in 2018).
Rosie Reads Counting on Katherine
https://handsonstem.rosieriveters.com/resources/rosie-reads-counting-on-katherine/
Resource 5
Born in London in 1934 with an innate love for animals, Goodall left school at the age of 18 and began observing chimpanzees in Gombe (Tanzania) before obtaining any formal scientific training. The work she did there, observing the relationships of chimpanzees to each other, the environment, and humans, as well as her discovery that chimpanzees make and use tools, is considered to be amongst “the greatest achievements of twentieth-century scholarship”. Today she is an international advocate for conservation and a UN Messenger of Peace.
Here’s what you’ll need to dress up as Jane Goodall for Halloween!
- A khaki shirt: Amazon Link
- A matching pair of shorts: Amazon Link
- A blonde wig: Amazon Link
- And a chimpanzee! Amazon Link
While in Gombe, Jane always had her binoculars on hand in order to observe the chimpanzee from a distance. Make your very own pair using this super cool project from Seeking Miss Poppins!
For your trick-or-treat bag, purchase a Roots & Shoots tote bag!
Roots & Shoots is Jane Goodall’s network for young people seeking to affect positive change in their communities, and kids from all over the world can join (find out more at www.rootsandshoots.org!). Made from 100% recycled polyester and reusable long after Halloween is over, your purchase supports the organization and serves as a powerful reminder that anyone can change the world!
Rosie Reads I am Jane Goodall
https://handsonstem.rosieriveters.com/resources/rosie-reads-i-am-jane-goodall/
Rosie Riveters’ program participants, ranging in age from five to 14, got the amazing opportunity to hear from and ask questions of former NASA astronaut and director of the Johnson Space Center, Ellen Ochoa. Dr Ochoa shared all kinds of amazing insights with our participants. Ranging from how astronauts exercise in space to why they don’t eat astronaut ice cream!
Born and raised in southern California, Dr Ellen Ochoa excelled in multiple subjects like music, business, math, journalism, computer science. It took Ochoa multiple tries to be accepted to NASA’s astronaut training program; when she finally boarded the space shuttle Discovery in 1993, she made history as the world’s first Latina astronaut!!
This was just the beginning of a long career at NASA; in 2012 Ochoa became the first person of Latin American descent to serve as Director of the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, and the second woman to ever hold the title. In addition to her ground-breaking career, Ochoa continued to devote herself to music – one of the most famous images of her shows her playing her flute while she was on board Discovery.
We could not be more excited to share our Rosie Talks interview with this incredible woman. Check out more Dr Ellen Ochoa themed lessons and activities like our Ellen Ochoa Halloween Costume and DIY flute project and our Rosie Reads The Astronaut with a Song for the Stars reading guide and projects.
A big thank you to the AstraFemina organization for their work in connecting children with amazing STEM role models!
Watch The Video
https://youtu.be/enJFi0Di4SY
When you think about women in STEM and space, you definitely can’t ignore NASA mathematician and “hidden figure” Katherine Johnson! Counting on Katherine: How Katherine Johnson Saved Apollo 13 by Helaine Becker and illustrated by Dow Phumiruk chronicles Johnson’s story from her days as a childhood phenom (she skipped three grades!) to her remarkable mathematical calculations that saved Apollo 13.
When you’re finished reading Counting on Katherine, ask kids these comprehension questions:
- What challenges did Katherine face while she attended school?
- What was Katherine’s job at NASA? Describe it!
- How did Katherine save Apollo 13?
For our Rosie Reads activity, design your own rockets! Have kids think big and investigate the scientific factors (gravity, force, etc.) that determine how fast and far a rocket goes, and how it gets back to earth. With those factors in mind, have each child design a rocket and build it with materials you have hand (paper, cardboard, etc.)!
Watch The Video
https://youtu.be/6v8gXGZo51s
Items Available to Purchase
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Rosie Reads about Real Women in STEM, set 1
$100
https://www.rosieriveters.com/shop#!/Rosie-Reads-about-Real-Women-in-STEM/p/123022665/category=53184730
Rosie Reads I am Jane Goodall
Jane Goodall was born in London in 1934. And, as the 2016 book I am Jane Goodall by Brad Meltzer charmingly demonstrates, she had an early love for animals. She left school at the age of 18 and began observing chimpanzees in Gombe before obtaining any formal scientific training. Yet the work she did there is considered to be amongst “the greatest achievements of twentieth-century scholarship.” Today she is an international advocate for conservation and a UN Messenger of Peace.
When you’re finished reading I am Jane Goodall, ask kids these comprehension questions:
- How did Jane Goodall become a ground-breaking researcher in Gambia? What other jobs did she have first?
- What were some of Goodall’s amazing discoveries about chimpanzees?
Interested kids can also join Roots & Shoots, Jane Goodall’s network for young people seeking to affect positive change in their communities; find out more at www.rootsandshoots.org!
For our Rosie Reads activity, we’re talking about passion, careers, and perseverance! Jane Goodall’s love for animals began when she was a child; ask kids what they are passionate about right now, and if that has changed over the years. It’s fun if they know about things they loved as toddlers – have kids prepare for the conversation in advance by taking a questionnaire home. Or, if you’re doing it with your own kids, remind them! Take some time online and research how these passions might lead to future jobs and careers like they did for Goodall.
Be sure to go back to the book too and reconsider Jane’s path to becoming a primatologist. It took time, persistence, and several other jobs to get there. Emphasize this, and ask kids to imagine the paths they could take to get to the careers you discussed. What challenges and pitfalls might they face along the way?
Watch The Video
https://youtu.be/1a5-MrvrsVI
Items Available to Purchase
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Rosie Reads About Real Women in STEM, set 2
https://www.rosieriveters.com/shop#!/Rosie-Reads-about-Real-Women-in-STEM-II/p/257390117/category=53184730
The first woman to win a Nobel Prize. The first woman to earn a PhD in physics in France. The first person ever to be awarded two Nobel Prizes. In this episode of Rosie Reads, we’re learning all about Marie Curie (1867-1934) with special guest Veronica! This kid-friendly biography, written by Marie Isabel Sanchez Vegara, illustrated by Frau Isa, and published in 2016 – is a great introduction to Curie’s life and long list of discoveries and achievements, many of which continue to help people today.
When you’re finished reading Marie Curie, ask kids these comprehension questions:
- Why did Marie move to France?
- What did she and her husband Pierre discover in their lab?
- What medical device did those discoveries help invent?
For our Rosie Reads activity, discuss how it’s never too early to start thinking about ways to help your community, and the world, just like Marie Curie, whose research “continues to help people with illnesses today”. Start by asking kids how they could use science to make the world a better place. Take it further, and ask them to invent a “new” Nobel Prize for something that has a positive impact on the world (the six existing prizes are awarded in the fields of physics, chemistry, medicine or physiology, peace, literature, and economics). For example, Veronica designed one for activism in the video! Go all out and make your medal and decide who the first recipient should be!
Watch The Video
https://youtu.be/8Jf7Mp_FwJM
Chien Shiung Wu grew up in early-twentieth century China with parents who recognized her brilliance and refused to accept societal constraints that devalued female intellect. Queen of Physics: How Wu Chien Shiung Helped Unlock the Secrets of the Atom, written by Teresa Robeson and illustrated by Rebecca Huang (published in 2019), chronicles how her parent’s decision to open their own school so she could receive a formal education set her on a path to became a pioneering physicist. Wu’s work on radioactive uranium separation was integral to the Manhattan project and the development of the atomic bomb. She also proved beta decay and disproved the Law of Parity, all while facing gender and racial discrimination.
When you’re finished reading Queen of Physics, ask kids these comprehension questions:
- What is physics?
- Wu – as a woman – had to fight for her education in the early twentieth century. What schools did she attend, and how far was each one from her home? Kids should be able to point out a pattern!
In China, cultural naming traditions are very important, and quite different from those in the U.S.! In fact, Wu Chien Shiung’s surname (last name) is listed first on the cover of the book! For our Rosie Reads activity, spend some time researching Chinese naming conventions. Follow it up by exploring how the meaning of Wu’s name – “courageous hero” – plays out in the book. How is Wu courageous? How does she react to challenges, from leaving home for school to being passed over for the Nobel Prize three times in the favor of men? Have fun with it, and suggest that kids look up the meanings of their names. Do they think the meanings reflect their own personalities and experiences?
Can’t get enough of Wu Chien Shiung? We can’t either, so we created a Wu Chien Shiung costume! It’s perfect for the dress-up box or Halloween, and super easy to put together!
Items Available to Purchase
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Rosie Reads About Real Women in STEM, set 3
$100
https://www.rosieriveters.com/shop#!/Rosie-Reads-about-Real-Women-in-STEM-III/p/417397626/category=53184730