October 2021

Slime, Ew!

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Academic Standards

 

 

Reading Objective:

Children will identify ways that slime helps animals and will describe slime’s properties.

 

Reading Level:

Lexile: 400L; GRL: J

 

Next Generation Science Standards:

2-PS1-1: Describe matter by its observable properties

2-LS4-4: Observations of animals in their habitats

 

Vocabulary:

venom, prey, mucus, germs

Use these questions to check students’ understanding and stimulate discussion:

 

1. What helps snails climb a leaf and not fall?
(sticky slime that comes out of their bodies)

2. How does slime help the Komodo dragon?
(Slime helps it eat its prey.)

3. What happens to germs when they touch the mucus in your nose?
(They stick to it and get trapped.)

4. Name some properties of slime.
(sticky, stretchy, thick, etc.)

Go online to print or project the Reading Checkpoint.

 

  • A hagfish makes slime. If a shark tries to bite it, the slime chokes the shark. The shark can’t bite!
  • When a parrotfish gets sleepy, it burps out a slime sleeping bag. This keeps pesky critters away.
  • Your body makes 6 cups of mucus a day in your nose and windpipe. Most of it gets swallowed.

Materials: slime from the recipe in the magazine; objects to test, such as pencils, markers, paper, and erasers; copies of the skill sheet

Overview: Students explore the sticky property of slime by testing what common classroom objects they can pick up with it.

Directions:

  1. Before the activity or as a class, make the slime in the magazine. You may have to double or triple the recipe to ensure that each group of 4-6 kids gets a handful of slime to work with. Each work area should also have several classroom items to test.
  2.  Remind students that slime often helps because it is sticky. Tell students they will test this property of slime. How sticky is it? What will it pick up?
  3.  Give students a copy of the skill sheet and send them to the testing areas.
  4.  Let students play with the slime for a while to explore its properties.
  5. Then have them try to pick up objects with their slime. What sticks? Record results on the skill sheets.