What a fun morning.
This morning we decided to get our hands a little dirty and make some slime. The recipe I used is from Kid Activities and is a personal go-to as I normally have all the ingredients available to use. I always have Borax on hand for dirty diapers but if you do not have any, it can be found in the grocery store with the laundry detergent.
What you need:
- 1/2 cup of glue
- 1-1/2 cups of water
- 1 tsp Borax
- We mixed 1 cup of water with the borax and added 5 drops of food colouring.
In a separate bowl, we mixed the glue with 1/2 cup of water. Then we added the borax solution to the glue, lumps formed immediately.
A sieve sorted out the issue and a quick knead made the slime come together.
Playdough toys worked well with the gak and it cleaned up easily. The Borax did make me rethink giving it to Rose, but Daisy had a ball playing. I had a whale of a time playing but getting it off your hands and everything else is quite a challenge. I recommend lots of hot soapy water and supervised use. Slime certainly has its own time and place to be used. While it is easy to make, the borax makes it less of a favourable substance for children who are still likely to try eating things.
An alternative to slime and goop could be our non-toxic Plastimodal Modelling Clay set. Ideal for teaching principles of modelling, sculpture, geographical relief maps and pottery. It can be worked by hand or use cutting and shaping accessories.
These two different substances would be perfect to use when teaching solids, liquids and gasses. It will definitely make children think about substance properties.