Concoctions for Play: Slime

Slime

Recipe 1

The recipe for this slime is easy enough.

Equal amounts of Elmer's clear glue and Liquid Laundry Starch. 

Add food coloring as desired.

We poured the bottle of glue into a plastic cup to measure it. We marked a line on the cup at top most point of the glue. Then we added that same amount of liquid starch.

Mix together with your hands.

It gets more solidified as you mix it.

Recipe 2, with glitter variation

Or, you can use this recipe.

1 teaspoon Borax powder

1 1/2 cups. water, divided

4 oz. (or 1/2 cup) Elmer's clear glue

food coloring

glitter

Fill a small bowl with 1 cup of water and add 1 teaspoon of Borax powder. Mix until the Borax is dissolved and set aside. Pour glue into a medium mixing bowl and add 1/2 cup of water. Add four-eight drops of food coloring to the glue mixture. Stir it up a bit. We added some glitter just for fun, but this is not necessary. Now add the Borax mixture to the glue mixture and watch it begin to solidify. Stick your hands in and and start mixing it all up. Pour out the excess water and knead the mixture until it becomes more firm and dry. When you're done playing with it, store in a Ziplock bag or other air tight container. We used 2 oz. Multi-purpose mini cups I bought at Wal-mart.

About the safety of Borax, refer to Getting to the Bottom of Borax: Is it Safe or Not? at Crunchy Betty. 

Cross-linking Polymers

The science behind all of these type concoctions is that they are polymers. Polymers have long chains of molecules that can slide past each other until some of the molecules come in contact with molecules that stick together at a few places along the strand. Starches are responsible for hooking the glue’s molecules together to form the putty-like material. You will see variations on this recipe, which make the concoction slightly different, but they all work on this same scientific principle.

I reminded them of what they had learned about polymers (long chains of molecules hooked together), and illustrated what had just happened in the experiment by using 3 chains of paper clips laying side by side.

I showed them that the paper clip strands slide by each other easily, and this is how the glue alone acts. I then hooked two from one chain to two from another chain, making cross-links.

I showed them how the chains cannot easily slide back in forth now, illustrating the changes that occur when the laundry starch is added to the glue.

originally posted: Jun 3, 2013

Concoctions for Play

Slime

Gak

Color Surprise Playdough

Oobleck

Claydough

Floam

Sandcasts

Ivory Soap Cloud

Fizzy Explosion Bags

Galaxy Glitter Dough

Sidewalk Paint

Beachy Moonsand

Permanent Sandcastle Clay

Homemade Stickers

Stained Glass Disks

Concoctions for Play: "Stained Glass" Gelatin Disks

"Stained Glass" Gelatin Disks

This pretty disks are fun and easy to make, and you can cover some chemistry terms while you are making them.

Make a solution of a lot of gelatin powder and only a little water...in a plastic lid.

It makes a very thick mixture.
When the powder is dissolved... add a few drops of food coloring of the colors of your choice and gently turn the lid so that the coloring swirls slowly in the solution.

Let them sit for about a week until they are thoroughly dried. Slowly peel them off the lid, taking care not to tear them.

Now you can tape them to a window and see the beautiful stained glass-type look to them.
Pretty, aren't they?

Concoctions for Play: Homemade Stickers

Homemade Stickers

1 envelope (1/4 oz) unflavored gelatin
4 tablespoons boiling water
1 teaspoon light corn syrup
1/2 tsp flavoring extract

Add gelatin to the boiling water and stir until dissolved. Stir in corn syrup and flavoring. Paint sticker gum on backs of pictures cut from magazines or pieces of wrapping paper.After the backs of papers are coated allow to dry completely.Once paper is dry use scissors to cut out the shapes or you can use punches to cut out fun shapes.Once you have all of the shapes cut out, just lick and stick. If you have left over sticker gum it will harden into a gel. To re-use, heat until it becomes liquid again.

Concoctions for Play: Sidewalk Paint

Sidewalk Paint

1/4 cup cornstarch

1/4 cup cold water

Food coloring

Paint BrushesIn a small bowl, mix together the cornstarch and cold water. Stir in as many drops of food coloring as you need to get your desired color. Repeat this process for each paint color.Use a paintbrush to make fun designs on the sidewalk or driveway.To wash the paint off, simply spray the area with water.

Concoctions For Play: Permanent Sandcastle Clay

Permanent Sandcastle Clay

Last week I made some beachy moonsand, but this week I am going to show you how to make permanent sandcastles.

For enough sand clay for one castle, you will need:

1 cup sand
1/2 cup cornstarch
1 teaspoon alum
3/4 cup water

Mix the sand, cornstarch and alum together thoroughly. You can mix them right in the saucepan you will use to cook the clay in. Add the water and stir the mixture until it is smooth and the cornstarch is dissolved. Cook the clay over medium heat, stirring occasionally. The clay should start to thicken within a minute or two. Stir more vigorously, being sure to scrape the mixture from the sides and bottom of the pan. Cook the mixture until it thickens to the consistency of play dough. Remove the clay from the pan and soak or wash your pan or it will harden on it. Once the clay is cool enough to touch, you can start sculpting.

We used items we collected at the beach to decorate them.
One was made with a shell candle in the middle.

The clay may take up to a week to dry completely.

The clay is fragile when it dries so it is better to make thick, heavy structures rather than thin ones.

Source: Family Fun.

Concoctions for Play: Beachy Moonsand

Beachy Moonsand

There are a lot of recipes out there for Moonsand, the pleasantly moldable sand for play. I wanted some for rainy days, to make some that would make them feel like they were at the beach, so I used tanning oil for the oil to make that unmistakable Tropical scent of going to the beach.

Beachy Moonsand Recipe

1 part cornstarch (I used a whole box.)
1 1/2 parts sand (I filled the box up, and dumped it in and then half-way up again. You could use colored sand, if you would like.)

Tanning oil until it feels right to your touch (We used about 10 ounces. You could use baby oil or even vegetable oil instead, if you like.)

sources:

• adapted from the recipe at Child Central Station