Our free e-book of ten experiments that won't let you down! shows you how to make one of the best easy science experiments for kids - slime.
Our home school science recipe is easy to do and definitely scores high on kid appeal.
You will be learning homeschool science and proving what fun you can have along the way!
You'll find two methods of making slime.
One uses borax and the other uses cornstarch, which is easier to find in your kitchen cupboard. If you haven't either, check out the slime activator below.
There's a free printable sheet of instructions to help you.
And to prove this is something your kids will really enjoy, here's Jodi:
"My daughter has made Frozen inspired slime, mermaid inspired slime, we've added food coloring to it and added silver glitter for night sky slime...all sorts.
Both my children were really into Ghostbusters at one point and had lots of fun making green Slimer slime! Hours of fun!" ~ Jodi xx
Easy science experiments for kids often don't need many ingredients, and slime is no exception.
But borax can be a little hard to track down; you'll find it in the laundry section of your grocery store or Walmart. For the UK the best place for borax is Boots.
You can get a free printable sheet with our homeschool how to make slime instructions.
Look below for how to get our free e-book: ten experiments that won't let you down!
However, a word of warning. We found the ratio of glue to water in the slime recipe a bit fiddly to get right; you may have to get your kids to add a bit more glue to make the slime form. If you're struggling, I've seen another recipe for how to make slime with borax using:
But then I suppose the idea of home school science is all about using experiments to find things out, as you'll see if you look at our kids science page.
Easy science experiments are perfect for proving all sorts of interesting scientific facts, and you've just proved that by learning how to make slime.
The homeschool science is based on messing around with states of matter.
What you've shown is that slime is a weird substance that breaks all the rules because sometimes it acts like a solid and sometimes it acts like a liquid.
If you want your kids to really impress their friends with how much you learn in home school science, tell them they've just made a non-Newtonian fluid. Experiments can be pretty cool...
Making slime doesn't need borax; you can make an easy version by getting your kids to do experiments with cornstarch (corn flour) to make a similar substance. This is also great for home school experiments with young kids as it doesn't take much preparation and you'll likely have all the recipe ingredients in your kitchen.
Recipe:
All you need for this easy recipe is to put the cornstarch in a plastic cup and get your kids to add the tap water, a little at a time.
Warning. Go slow on this; you don't want to add too much water to your recipe. You're trying to make a very thick mixture.
Now pour the gak, oobleck, ooze, quicksand or whatever you want to call the cornstarch recipe onto your hand. It should be easy to pour, but when your kids stick their fingers in you'll find it instantly turns hard.
If you don't have Borax or cornstarch, Jodi from my Courageous Homeschooling Facebook group told me about slime activator.
"We used slime activator rather than borax or anything. It only takes a few drops and the bottle has lasted us ages so far." ~ Jodi
Once again, you can astound everyone with the wonders of home school science experiments! You've made something called a colloid which changes form under pressure, so it appears like a liquid but also like a solid when you push down with your finger.
If all these experiments are awakening your curiosity, Wikipedia has a rather mind-boggling explanation for non-Newtonian fluids.
I have to say I have performed easy science experiments over supper using a recipe involving custard powder - being full of cornstarch it works just as well!
If home school science is beginning to sound appealing, don't forget we have lots of other easy kids activities to try.
Click on the kids experiments photo above to get your free e-book:
Ten experiments that won't let you down!
Easy science experiments are a great way to have fun with your kids, especially if they include learning how to make slime!
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