Spooky science

COEUR d’ALENE — Icy fog overflowed from a black cauldron as Girl Scout leader Courtney Crookham added “eye of newt” and other mysterious ingredients to a fruity potion.

“We’re almost there, kiddies,” she said. “We’ll give this a little stir.”

The Girl Scouts of Eastern Washington and North Idaho Troop 6017, dressed in costumes, watched in excitement while Crookham crafted a delicious bubbling Kool-Aid mixture as the girls gathered for a STEM-themed Halloween party Wednesday evening in the Community Library Network’s Little Discovery Corner in the Silver Lake Mall.

Normally, the entire regional council comes together for a fun and educational gathering this time of year, with about 100 girls from the Inland Northwest. However, with social distancing and COVID limitations in place, Troop 6017 leaders created a smaller function to accommodate their large squad of about 20 girls.

“I love it,” Crookham said. “We didn’t get to meet up for six months or something like that, so we’ve been slowly getting back to everything. I haven’t seen most of the girls in forever. We miss them. We just needed to do something and be back.”

The Girl Scouts made homemade gummy worms, ghost rockets, bubbling potions, dancing ghosts and glow-in-the-dark slime.

“I think it’s really awesome — it’s fun,” said Rain Moyer, 11, of Hayden, who was dressed as Sally from “The Nightmare Before Christmas." “Things haven’t been the most fun lately, but I think this is really fun.”

Elizabeth Ball, 10, of Coeur d’Alene, wore a sorceress costume as she focused on her drawing for a dancing ghost.

“This is going to be a really fat ghost,” she said with a snicker.

She neatly cut out the tissue paper ghost, which danced when combined with static electricity and a balloon.

“I love them,” she said. “They’re really cool.”

A dance party closed out the evening, when the girls boogied to Halloween music and won festive fun prizes.