Our students at Southwark have been asking to make slime since day 1. We decided it would be a fun experiment to do since it is near the end of our semester, and many of our students have never had the opportunity to make it. We did a lot of research to find the least messy and ingredient safe way to make the slime. For the one we found you need: Baking soda, glue, food coloring, saline solution, water, cups, bowels, spoons, and trash bags to cover the desks. We had the kids split up in pairs and handed each group pre-measured ingredients. In the bowel they mixed 1/2 a cup of water with 1/2 a cup of glue. Then they added the food coloring, which they had to figure out what color would be created from the ones they chose, and added a tsp of baking soda. Lastly, they stirred in 1 tbsp of saline solution.
The baking soda is what helps solidify the slime. We gave them less than they needed so that they would have to figure out how much more they would need to add until they got the consistency they wanted. The saline solution is what made their slime less sticky, so they also had to mess around with these measurements too. It is safe to say that this experiment was a success. It was a lot of fun, and the trash bags helped eliminate any mess. Almost all the students ended up with a slime that was the consistency they wanted and wasn’t too sticky. They were able to split it in half and each of them take part of it home in the cups we gave them.
Because Southwark is STEAM focused, this was the perfect activity to learn about solids and liquids. We took a short survey to see how many knew what a solid and a liquid was. We also asked which category slime fell under. I was actually really surprised that most of them knew that it was both. We taught them the term, non-Newtonian fluid, which is the exact term for both a solid and liquid. This activity caused the pairs to have to work together in order to get the right consistency. This meant that the slime they were left with was a product of both of their hard work, and they were able to take it home as a showcase of what they had learned.
