Slime Science Workshop
Our slime science workshop was definitely a lot of fun – so fun in fact, that I took it with me when I visited summer camp today and we had fun there as well! I started each program reading the story The Secret Science Project that Almost Ate the School by Judy Sierra and illustrated by Stephen Gammell. This is a great read aloud story because (1) it rhymes, so it’s fun to read, (2) you get to say “moldy underwear” which makes everyone laugh and groan, and (3) it’s a great story that shows how science can be fun and crazy.
After we read our story, we talked about what matter is, what the states of matter are, and the definition of a non-Newtonian fluid (something, that in this case, acts like a fluid and a solid). The kids were really great about explaining each of these things and were so excited to get started making their own slime. So then, we got to work on our slime. I found that you don’t really need to make exact measurements and the slime will still turn out really well. We used paper bowls (I think Styrofoam would work better, but I hate using something that can’t decompose at all), a plastic cup, and a popsicle stick to stir everything together.
At each child’s place, there was a cup of water with borax at the bottom, a bowl with some glue and water, another empty bowl and a popsicle stick. I first had the kids dissolve the borax into the water in the cup. Then using the same popsicle stick, mix the water and glue together. At this point we asked the kids what color they wanted their slime to be. We made it easy, only offering the four colors of food coloring we had (no mixing!). Put a couple drops into the glue/water mixture and tell the kids to keep stirring. Then they added their water/Borax solution to the glue mixture and kept stirring. They definitely need to add at least a 1/2 of water and Borax into their glue to ensure it gets to the right consistency. Not enough, and your slime is really sticky! Most of the kids had a great time making their slime – I did have to tell them that they needed to keep working their slime to get it to the right consistency, but they loved experimenting with how long it would stretch, they rolled it into a ball, and really had fun. I gave each child a Ziploc bag at the end of the program with their name on it to take their slime home.
Ingredients:
- 1 teaspoon of borax
- 1 ½ cup of water
- ½ cup of white glue (Elmer’s)
- Food coloring
Directions:
1.) Mix borax and 1 cup of water together in a small bowl until Borax has dissolved.
2.) In a separate bowl, mix glue and remaining water together until thoroughly combined.
3.) Add food coloring to glue and water mixture, stir until combined.
4.) Pour the Borax and water mixture into the glue and water mixture.
5.) Stir vigorously.
6.) Once your slime has polymerized, scoop it out of the bowl and keep working it with your hands until combined together. It’s okay if there is some leftover water in the bowl.
7.) Keep your slime in a sealed plastic bag in the refrigerator when you are not using it. Slime will last about a week.