Here is a compilation of some particle simulations that I did in Blender, I goofed around with using different types of particles instead of just the “halo” default, and I think it turned out nicely. Although I rendered the clips in 1080p the editing program that I use wouldn’t let me export any video files with a resolution greater than 480×720.  So here they are: (The clip of the cube falling apart isn’t a true particle animation, but I used the “explode” modifier to parent the vertices of the cube to the separate particles, so in a way it is).

Enjoy!