STEM Tuesdays:
Simple Slime

Ingredients & Instructions

• water
• glue
• activator (liquid starch, water & borax, baking soda, contact solution – we used liquid starch!)
• food coloring/glitter as desired
• bowl
• measuring cup
• spoon

Step 1: Mix equal parts water and glue in a bowl and stir (we used about 1 cup of each ingredient) 

Step 2: Add in food coloring or glitter as desired and stir (we used green food coloring and glitter for St. Patrick’s Day!) 

Step 3: Add in a little bit of your activator and begin to mix the ingredients together with your hands. Continue slowly adding in the activator and mixing. The more you play with it, the less sticky it will become! 

So, what happened? SCIENCE! Our glue is made up of polymers, which are long strands of molecules. Picture a long jewelry chain like a necklace! When we added in our activator (in our case, liquid starch), we linked those polymers together and our mixture thickened into slime. The molecules from the activator and water interacted with the glue molecules to make an entirely different substance! That’s what we call a chemical reaction!

Vocabulary List

Polymer: A polymer is a long strand of repeating molecules. Glue is made out of polymers! 

Mix: To mix something means to take two or more things and put them together to make one thing. We mixed glue, water, and starch to make slime! 

Chemistry: Chemistry is a kind of science that studies matter (everything around us!) and how it changes. We did a chemistry experiment when we made slime.

Playlist: Science Jams!

Stay tuned tomorrow for Art & Maker Wednesdays, we’ve got a design challenge for you! #CMAatHome