Although slime may seem like an overnight sensation that came out of nowhere five years ago, the sticky, slippery, stretchy stuff kids can’t get enough of was actually first manufactured and sold by Mattel in 1976. Slime shot to superstardom a few years later as it first dripped, dropped, and covered the stars of Nickelodeon TV in the ‘80s. And who could forget the Slimer of Ghostbusters fame, the “focused, non-terminal, repeating phantasm”? With decades of staying power under its ooey-gooey belt, slime is clearly here to stay. As much as many parents wish slime would slip out of their kids’ lives forever, there are some surprising reasons to stick with it, including:
1. Slime Increases Your Child’s Ability to Pay Attention
Sure, carefully mixing the right combination of ingredients to create the perfect batch of slime (not too sticky, just enough stretch) takes concentration. But squeezing, stretching, flattening, folding, and twisting slime can also improve your child’s focus. Research indicates that busying the hands allows the brain to concentrate on other things, including listening to instructions, stories, and lessons.
2. Slime Builds Fine Motor Skills
Measuring, pouring, mixing, stirring, squeezing, smashing, rolling, twisting, and pressing are all amazing ways to strengthen the hand muscles and build fine motor skills.
3. Slime Introduces Basic Chemistry
Your kids know that mixing the correct amounts of contact lens solution, baking soda, and glue makes slime. You can explain that the reason those ingredients turn into slime when combined is a chemical reaction between the main ingredients – the polyvinyl alcohol in glue and the borate ion that’s created when they mix baking soda with contact lens solution. Together, these two ingredients create a non-Newtonian fluid. That’s another way of saying slime is neither a solid nor a liquid, has no shape, and can change elasticity to flow between your child’s fingers or bounce like a ball.
4. Slime Stimulates the Senses
The more senses involved when your child plays, the more connections their brains are making. Kids are obviously engaging their sense of touch while playing with slime, as well as sight, and sometimes hearing (hands up if your kids make fart sounds with their slime).
5. Slime Is Creative
Making and playing with slime requires creativity and imagination! Kids can add colors, glitter, beads and other elements to their recipes to create custom batches of slime and the way they play with their slime is entirely up to them! Will the twist it into ropes? Roll it flat and use cookie cutters to make shapes? Ball it up and bounce it? Create freeform shapes as they squeeze and stretch? Slime has no rules, so kids direct slime play their own way.
So if you’re looking for something fun to do today, why not whip up a batch of slime? Our favorite recipe is below:
1. Pour 5 ounces of Elmer’s white blue into a small bowl
2. Add ½ cup of water and mix (add a drop or two of food coloring here for colored slime)
3. Add ½ teaspoon of baking soda and mix
4. Add 1 tablespoon of contact lens solution (make sure it contains boric acid) and stir until the slime lifts away from the sides of the bowl
5. Knead the slime with your hands, adding a dash of saline until you have the consistency you want
Source: Here
