Frozen slime

My daughter seems to be just as obsessed with The Disney movie Frozen, as she is with 'squishy/slimy' things. So I thought why not combine the two and make some Frozen slime.

Anna and Elsa having fun in the slime                  

Who can play?

Children aged three years and above, however this depends on the age and stage of your child's development. If your child tends to put their fingers and objects in their mouth and near their eyes, this activity is not for you.

Safety:

Glue and laundry detergent can be highly dangerous if swallowed or put in eyes, please read the safety and caution labels on the bottles before beginning the activity. Encourage your child to keep their fingers and slime away from their moth and eyes.

What the Critique had to say:

"It feels like a stretchy Giraffe" by Bee aged 3 years old

Questions to ask:

• What does the texture fell like?
• What can you see happening to the two ingredients
• Can you stretch and pull the slime?

What do you need?

• Bowl and spoon
• 1 (4 fl oz/118 ml) bottle of non toxic school glue (gradually add this in as you could need more or less)
• 1/2 cup of free and gentle liquid laundry detergent
• 1 drop of blue food colouring (optional)
• Silver glitter  (optional)
• Anna and Elsa small world dolls or any other small world characters available

What did we do?

Before we started this activity we talked about how we needed to be safe with the slime and its ingredients. I told Bee that if the glue, laundry detergent or slime went in her eyes or mouth she could become very ill, so we had to just use our hands and wash them once we had finished with the activity.
Our next step was to squeeze the glue into the bowl. Bee loved watching it drip. We then gradually added small amounts of the laundry detergent and mixed it into the glue. It did not take long for the mixture to combine and change into slime. Bee got really excited and said "wow, we have made slime...it looks slippy and slimy" She also used other descriptive words such as, cold, squishy, stretchy and wet.
All that was left then was to explore and manipulate the slime.
Bee got stuck in and made finger prints in the slime, let it drip through her fingers and from one hand to the other, let it drip and stretched it. She seemed to be really enjoying this sensory experience. There was lots of language such as "It is getting longer" and  "it's stretching"

I then had the idea to add blue food colouring and glitter to create a frozen theme. Bee loved it! She enjoyed shaking the glitter (nearly the whole tub) and mixing the food colouring into the slime.

Adding glitter and blue food colouring to the slime.

We stretched the slime until it made holes, which Bee would peep through. Whilst looking through the translucent slime she would say "I can see you" I reminded her to be careful putting the slime near her eyes as it could hurt them.

Peeking through the slime

Bee took a straw out of the draw and began pushing it into the slime and said "you can always use a straw if you don't like the texture" I was quite impressed with her resourcefulness. 

Exploring the slime with a straw

I could see Bee was really getting into playing with the slime. She made marks in it by dragging her fingers along it...
                                 
...put her foot in it and...

                                     

...even rolled up the slime to make letters that feature in her name.
                     

Towards the end of the activity, I asked her if she wanted to add her Frozen figures, but she did not want to. She said she did not want them to get dirty. 

Once Bee had finished exploring the slime, we placed it in an old play dough container to keep fresh for next time...and obviously washed our hands.

                     

What did we learn?                               

• Communication and language-Using descriptive words such as wet, cold and slippy. Talking about what she is seeing and doing with the slime.
• Physical development- Fine and large manipulative skills whilst manipulating the slime, by pinching, pulling and stretching.
• Personal, social and emotional- Learning how to be safe and follow instructions. Bee showed lots of fun, pleasure and enjoyment when playing with the slime. It actually looked therapeutic.
• Literacy- Developing finger muscles to help hold and manipulate a pencil to write. Creating letters out of the slime and mark making.
• Mathematics- Measuring out the ingredients and using maths language such as long.
• Understanding of the world- Learning about change of state and exploring properties of the slime. Being involved in a sensory experience, therefore developing the senses.
• Expressive arts and design- Creating patterns in the slime.

What could be done next?

• Experiment with different food colouring and glitters
• The slime can also be frozen and creates an interesting texture and experience when it starts to melt.
• You can use a stick if don't like the texture, but still want to explore.
• I am on a quest to fin a slime recipe that contains more natural ingredients. If you have found one please share or write a comment.