Making slime has become a craze among young people. "Slime" is a sticky, gelatinous blob, mixed together from household products to make a slippery, fluffy plaything that is strangely satisfying to watch being stretched, squashed, folded, and poked in online videos.
I remember store-bought slime from when I was a kid, and with my love for mixing "potions" at that age, it's a wonder that I never thought to make my own. I guess homemade slime mixing is a trend that's unique to this generation and their smart phones and slime videos. It's even sparked an entrepreneurial spirit as kids sell it to their peers.
My friend Mariana introduced me to this delightfully gooey world, and I will share her idea of how it can relate to English language learning, as well as some of my own reflections.
First, how do you make slime?
There are a plethora of recipes online, but the most common, basic one involves these ingredients:
- PVA glue
- water (about an equal amount to the glue)
- baking soda (about half a teaspoon, mixed with the water)
- shaving cream (a good squirt)
- boric acid (a few drops in liquid form). In the United States, this takes the form of borax powder, which is mixed with water; in Brazil, it's in liquid form and called agua boricada, and is sold in pharmacies. This works as an activator, transforming the liquid ingredients into what is known as a non-Newtonian liquid, thick, viscous, and slimy!
I'll share my absolute favorite slime recipe below, which is completely borax-free!
Mariana used slime mixing in one of her classes as an attention-grabbing context from which to teach the first conditional: If we have glue, we'll make slime! She helped students consider the different results of the conditional--"If we add too much water, the slime will be too sticky; If we don't add water; the slime will be too hard; If we don't add baking soda, the mixture won't slime," etc. I had one of my students guess the possible results in a matching activity while putting the verbs together to form a conditional sentence.
Slime fails happen. Just like in baking, if a recipe isn't followed precisely, things don't turn out as expected. When this happens, it's a great opportunity to get kids to use structures like this to reflect and assess what went wrong. If there's no chemical reaction, we won't get slime!
I could also imagine slime as a great way to have students practice reading and following a recipe. Or they could write their own recipe, or record their own slime mixing video, using imperatives such as "Mix the water and backing soda together. Add the glue. Add the borax, one drop at a time. Don't stop mixing."
Students could also use sentences in passive voice to explain what the slime is made of.
A batch of slime can also be used to review vocabulary, as students shape it like gooey play dough into a form representing a recently-learned word for others to guess. It's a great way to encourage creativity, build problem-solving skills (it's not an easy task), and also practice a challenging form of communication.
For younger children, it's a great way to find out about color mixing when food coloring or liquid washable paints are added. Start with the primary colors--red, blue, and yellow, and let the kids find out what other colors they make when mixed.
Really, if you make slime, the possibilities are endless. Just like adding crunchy foam balls, glitter, small toys, or even gold leaf, there is also a vast amount of useful target language that can be paired with a slime mixing experiment. I'm impressed at how my seven year-old niece in the United States can talk about the importance of an activator--a word that wouldn't normally be in her vocabulary--like a boss. Slime mixing is being used to teach chemistry, STEM, business skills, and also life lessons like patience (as the slime has to be mixed a lot and worked with the hands to get to the desired fluffy consistency). It only makes sense to connect this trend to English language, while giving students the empowering satisfaction of making something with their hands that they can talk about.
To wrap up, I'll share what is currently my favorite slime recipe.
There are actually two that worked out delightfully while I was experimenting with my nieces in the United States recently. We tried making clear slime out of clear glue, but the bubbles created by the baking soda made it an ugly mess that looked like bubble wrap (which was fun in itself, to pop). Before my first slime making attempt, I had accidentally bought shaving gel instead of shaving cream, and after learning that in some recipes it works as an activator, I saved it. This turned out to be the case when mixing a bit of gel with the rest of the clear glue, and the blue color was lovely. It was fluffy enough to be called "cloud slime," by the nieces, although I thought it was a little hard and it broke and snapped rather than flowing nicely. (And real "cloud slime" is made with fake instant snow--but that's another experiment for another day!)
The recipe I had seen online that I had been wanting to try for a while was a mixture of wood glue and just a bit of shaving gel. The gel is an activator in this one as well, making it a simple two-ingredient recipe with instant gratification as it is mixed. The girls loved the naturally-resulting yellowish color and smooth texture, and referred to it as "butter slime," which is apparently a thing.
I'm still learning all about slime, and my nieces, students, and the internet have a lot to teach me. Isn't it cool how a teacher doesn't have to be the expert anymore? I find that to be a huge relief. Technology and a globalized society have changed the way we learn. My friend Alice, the Headbanger Teacher, emphasized this in a talk she gave the other day, saying that it's not how much we know or learn that's important, but what we do with the stuff we learn. What would you do with the power of slime? What other kinds of fun making activities, when mixed with the right ingredients, can be the activator for learning and collaboration and empowerment? Let's find out together!
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