Yesterday we made Slime! As part of our mixtures unit, I wanted the class to be able to create something that required measuring ingredients. Slime hit this, but it was also just fun. It was also extremely messy. If you’re doing this at school check with your janitor before doing this activity. Luckily mine is awesome and had the tables I used cleaned up in 5 to 10 minutes. We still have to clean our beakers though.
The second reason for doing this was to be able to experiment with different recipes and compare results. We had some great successes, also some failures. What follows is basically a debrief for myself for future years, but is also intended as a bit of a guide for others. I have listed them in order of what worked best to worst for us.
Slime #1
Slime number 1 was super simple. White glue and laundry detergent. You just needed to get the balance right. Its also important to use the right kind of laundry detergent. below is the link to the best sight I found that outlined this.
It worked perfectly. The kids found this one to be the most enjoyable. It also acts the most like what you think slime would be.
A couple thoughts on it:
It was the easiest for the kids to get the proportions right on their own.
The biggest problem was the kids taking it out while it was too sticky. This caused a huge mess. In saying that, if you let the stuff dry for an hour or 2 its super easy to get off a table.
Some of the kids experimented with adding cornstarch (from slime 2). I think that these ones were the best over all. In future this will be an avenue to explore.
Over all cost was about 1 dollar a kid (22 for glue, 14 for detergent)
A gallon of glue looks like it will work for a full class (25-29)
Intsrtuctions:
Put 100 ml of white glue into a container (we used beakers)
Add 1 tbsp. of laundry detergent
Mix together
Continue to add laundry detergent until the slime does not stick to the container.
The slime will still be a bit sticky, but once you work it with your hands it will get better.
Side note: We added glow in the dark powder to a set of this. It worked great for 2 days, but then started to separate and harden, similar to what Slime 3 did, just with out the smell.
Side note 2: This slime is still good 2 weeks later!
Slime # 2
This was a glue-less slime. When doing research on this, we initially thought it would be a bit of a puffy or cloud slime. I would categorize it as more of a putty like substance. I liked it because it wasn’t as messy once properly mixed. I also personally liked the feel of it more (its not as slimy).
Here is where we got the recipe:
Thoughts:
Put the cornstarch in first then add small amounts of conditioner until it looks right.
Our initial test we just measured equal parts cornstarch and conditioner and threw them together. This led to us having to add in a huge amount of cornstarch to get the desired consistency.
If the mixture looks and acts like tooth paste it needs more cornstarch
It requires about a quarter cup of cornstarch per kid. Allow for extra to adjust consistency.
We totally overestimated the amount of conditioner. We bought 5 or 6 standard bottles, and really only needed 2, maybe 3.
Instructions
Put 50 ml of cornstarch in a container.
Add roughly 25 ml of conditioner.
Mix
Continue to add either cornstarch or conditioner depending on consistency.
if its sticky and tooth-pasty, add more cornstarch
if its chalky and crumbly, add more conditioner
be careful on the amount of conditioner you add. Its must easier to throw the balance off with it than with the cornstarch
Side note: This one lasted about a week.
Slime 3
This was definitely the hardest to get the correct consistency for the kids. We actually ended up abandoning it. The test batch that we did was super awesome. For some reason the next day it had started to separate and smelled really bad. When we let the kids try it, they were never able to get it to the actual slime stage. It just stayed as sticky goop. The other reason we abandoned it was the amount of contact solution that was required to get it to the slime stage.
Its very possible that we mixed it wrong, as we were using a half recipe from the video.
Links for slime: