Outreach for Librarians: Slimed in the Library

Things to Think About: 

• Because of the borax, whatever tools you use, don’t use it for food.  If possible, use disposable bowls and stirrers.
• If you have students or other helpers, have them measure out the borax and put it into the bowl.
• You’re going to need a place to discard the leftover water.  We used a trashcan with a trash bag in it.
• If you have students stand at a table to do this activity, they can move down the table for each step, and you can have a signs at each “station”.

Slimed in the Library

Objective:  Students will be able to make slime.

Supplies:  1 gallon school glue, water, food coloring, borax, bowls, stirrers, measuring spoon, measuring cup, pitchers for water (optional), plastic sandwich bags, trash can with liner (optional)

How To:

• In the first bowl, mix ¼ cup glue and ¼ cup water
• Add 2-4 drops of food coloring & mix
• In a second bowl, dissolve 1 teaspoon of borax into ¼ cup water
• Pour the GLUE into the Water solution
• Knead the slime
• Place the slime into a plastic bag so that the student can take it home.

It's interesting to see what happens when you step back and let students make the decisions. I asked them to come with ideas for an activity for Finals Stress Relief. After shooting down all the ones that might get us sued, we settled on SLIME. We are going to have students make slime to take home, and I think we may call it "I got SLIMED in the Library!"  

~ Alexa Azzopardi, Facebook post, April 25, 2017