FrankenSLIME!

So the kiddos have been begging to make some slime, in particular my son, ever since we visited Imagination Station and they had a demo on the green stuff.  So we got on the Imagination Station website and jotted down all the necessary ingredients.

What you need:

• 1 cup hot water

• 1.5 tsp. Borax (non-toxic/available by laundry detergents)

• 2 cups clear glue

• 2 cups warm water

• 1 tsp. liquid watercolor

Thankfully we had almost everything but the borax. Then we followed the direction and whipped up a fresh batch of slime!

 What to do:

1. Mix 1 cup hot water and 1.5 tsp. of Borax until dissolved. Set aside.

2. Mix 2 cups of clear glue and 2 cups of warm water together in a plastic bowl.

3. Using a metal spoon, slowly pour Borax mixture into the glue mixture while stirring quickly. Stir until the mixture leaves the side of the bowl. Slime will be sticky. Knead the mixture until it is no longer sticky. The more you work with it the easier it will become. (Source)

 

While my daughters had fun mixing it together they did not like the texture. However my son got a kick out of it, he had so much fun playing with the slime that he didn’t even want dinner, imagine that! While they mixed up the ingredients to make the slim and played with the slime I discussed the science behind it.

 

What’s the science?

Slime is an excellent example of a polymer. Polymers are large molecules consisting of repeating identical structural units connected by covalent chemical bonds. Polymers can be naturally occurring or manmade. Manmade polymers are materials like nylon, polyester, and polystyrene. Examples of naturally occurring polymers are proteins in our body like tubulin and actin. These proteins make up microtubules and microfilaments that serve as structural components within our cells.(Source)

After we played with the slime for a while it was time to put it away for dinner but we wanted to have it around for the next couple of weeks for some Spooktacular fun!  So we decided to make little Frankenslimes.

What you need:

• Mason jar
• An old black t-shirt cut into squares
• Silver Pipe Cleaner
• Google eyes (2)
• Permanent marker

Instructions:

1. Place slime in Mason jar.
2. Place round plate of lid on top of jar then place pipe cleaner on top followed by old black t-shirt square and tighten the lid.
3. Add google eyes, use marker for mouth and stitches.

 

Storage: Slime will keep for up to 3 weeks in an airtight container. DO NOT discard down the drain, throw away in the trash.

Thought I might include some more fun info on slime…..

History about Slime:

Slime as a toy dates back to the 1920′s, when chemist Hermann Staudinger was researching polymers. He was the first one to try and make long cross-linked chains of the molecules instead of circles. This allowed the polymer to be slippery and gooey. By the 1930′s other scientists used his polymer model and synthetic polymers began to be studied and created. But it wasn’t until the 1980′s that slime began to be sold in stores as a toy for children. Ever since then you can’t step into a toy store without seeing the gooey, oozy stuff on the shelves. The slime you find in the store and the slime you can make with this recipe are both non-Newtonian fluids. Did you try to make it and answer the questions about its properties? If so, read on to find out about non-Newtonian fluids. (Source)