Written by my new and amazing Guest Blogger – Carissa Yfantis. Carissa has a Master’s in Education and is a Master Parent. I am honored that she will be contributing to this blog.
When making slime became popular, my daughter asked to make some at home. She told me that she needed white glue, Borax, laundry detergent, and food coloring to make two different slime recipes. My initial thought was absolutely not! I could already see the sandy Borax all over my floor, stained chair cushions, sticky glue handprints on my furniture, and detergent spilled everywhere. Knowing my penchant for cleanliness, my daughter quickly added that she could make it in our basement and she promised to be very careful. I put aside visions of myself sweeping up Borax and agreed to let her make it. As a former educator, I knew this would be a great authentic learning experience. Of course, I didn’t share that with my daughter!
When we arrived at the store to purchase the ingredients, I stood back and let her shop using one of her birthday gift cards. Spending the least amount of money possible was suddenly very important to her since she was paying! When she checked the recipe using Borax, she saw that it it needed 1⁄2 cup of white glue. However, the glue bottles were labeled in ounces. I told her we needed to convert the units. She already knew there were 8 ounces in one cup, so she halved it to find that 1⁄2 cup was 4 ounces. She “did math” without realizing it! The recipe also needed 1 teaspoon of Borax. Upon finding it in a 4 pound box, she happily stated that it was enough to make slime forever! At this point I had to hold onto the cart because I suddenly felt faint. The words forever and slime should never be in the same sentence.
To make slime using laundry detergent (which is also labeled in ounces), the recipe called for 1⁄4 cup. At first she picked up a very large bottle. When I reminded her to check the recipe, she figured out that she only needed 2 ounces of detergent. This enabled her to buy the smallest (and cheapest!) one. More authentic learning. This recipe also needed 1⁄2 cup of glue, so 8 ounces was needed in order to make both recipes. I advised her to check the price of the 4 ounce bottle and the 7.6 ounce bottle. She figured out that the larger bottle was less money than two 4 ounce bottles, so she chose the 7.6 ounce bottle instead. She said it was close enough to 8 ounces. So frugal with her own money. And more hidden math!
Upon returning from the store, I asked my daughter how the ingredients actually became slime. She had no idea. Neither did I – it’s been a long time since my high school chemistry class. I seized this teachable moment and quickly (very quickly – I didn’t want to lose my audience) looked up how slime forms. Basically the glue is a polymer and the Borax and detergent are activators. When they mix, a reaction occurs that causes the molecules in the glue to become tangled and create a slimy substance. Quick authentic chemistry lesson!
To make the Borax slime, she carefully measured each ingredient (“doing math” again), followed the directions, and was quite excited when slime formed! It actually was pretty cool! Then she followed the recipe for the laundry detergent slime. She liked the consistency of the detergent slime better because it was softer and more stretchy. I liked it better because we were able to relegate the sandy Borax to a dark corner of the basement.
Over the next few months, my basement became a slime factory and my daughter and her friends became expert slime makers. They learned how to alter the consistency of the slime by experimenting with different amounts of each ingredient and recorded the recipes they liked. They also made the equally important discovery that some combinations did not make good slime. They modified recipes to make larger or smaller batches and created various hues with the food coloring. Making slime provided authentic learning experiences with basic measurement, a tiny bit of finance, and a bit of elementary chemistry. My daughter had hours of fun and never realized she was learning! And I never told her!
The Educational Journey 