Making slime is such a fun thing to do with your children at home – we do it at school all the time! I am sure that even you won’t be able to resist playing with it! Plus, it will last you about two weeks, which means plenty of fun for days to come!

How to make it

Ingredients

  • 1 cup Elmer’s school glue. If you don’t have this at home, you can purchase here
  • 1 cup water
  • 1 teaspoon Borax mixed into ½ cup warm water (It’s just a teeny tiny bit. See notes on Borax further down in this post)

Optional Ingredients

  • Food colouring – you don’t need it but it makes it so much more fun!
  • Glitter – you don’t need these either

Let’s Get Started!

  • Mix the glue and water together in a mixing bowl (Tip: Set apart some mixing bowls for things like this, that you won’t use in the kitchen later.)
  • Mix the Borax solution on a separate bowl
  • Add a few drops of colour (your child can learn about colour mixing if you mix two shades together)
  • Add the glitter
  • Slowly add the Borax solution into the water and glue solution while you mix, and keep adding until you get the consistency of slime
  • Voilà! Have fun!
  • After you play with it, store it in a resealable bag.

Expand the learning opportunities

  • Before you add in the colour or glitter, separate your mix into two or more bowls so you can make different colours of slime with just one recipe! This will allow for other activities during play, like sorting by colour, colour mixing, and even using the different colours to design an art piece!
  • Once you make the slime and play with it for a few days, you can add bigger beads to it for a different sensory activity. Plus, if you try to pick out the beads, it will also provide a fine motor activity. Make sure you supervise so it does not become a choking hazard. Beads can be purchased here
  • Instead of beads, you can add mini marshmallows, cake sprinkles, or any other similar household items.

What is my child learning during this activity?

Children will learn STEM because they will help you measure, mix, describe textures and colours, see reactions, and predict what will happen.

CEFA tip: Remember to let your child do as much of the process as they are capable of. This means they measure and mix (not you).

As they are mixing and pouring, following all the steps, they are learning sequencing, which is great for reading as well as math.

Once you make it and your child finally gets to play with their creation, it is a sensory activity, important for writing. If you cut with child scissors as you play, it is a fine motor skill, also important for writing.

While you play with your child, use vocabulary to describe how the slime feels in their hands, such as:

  • Squishy
  • Smooth
  • Sticky

You can also use math vocabulary such as:

  • Cold
  • Cool
  • Warm
  • Divide
  • A lot
  • A little
  • Colour

Describing while using vocabulary is one of the most important learning outcomes at this age. It teaches them reading and mathematics.

And since we are going through a global pandemic at the moment, which might make everyone feel more anxious, you will be happy to know that playing with slime is a wonderful stress reliever – so, add emotional development to the list of learning outcomes, and bring the slime out when you feel your child could use a soothing break.

A word of caution

  • Borax is toxic if ingested in certain quantities. This recipe does not call for dangerous amounts of Borax, but I you want to be extra safe, stay tuned for a future post on how to make non-toxic slime. Slime (and many other sensory activities) require supervision but are essential to your child’s development. As you know, children younger than five require supervision in any case, so why not try the slime and play with them for 15-20 minutes instead? As a teacher and parent myself, I urge you not to deprive babies and toddlers of the learning opportunities and immense fun that these types of activities provide just because you need to supervise.

Having pleaded my case, I also advise you to do what’s best for your child. If your little one is too young to resist putting things in their mouth, then don’t introduce this activity. Our CEFA children are older than 12 months, which is when they begin to understand that not everything goes in their mouth (I said they “begin to understand”, I didn’t say they didn’t find it irresistible).

  • Avoid bringing slime into a carpeted area or playing with it on your best furniture as it is a bit sticky.

Lots of great learning in this one! And more importantly, so much fun!