Week 2: SLIME!!

Hello parents!

We are now two weeks into the school year, and it has already been a blast! Again, I hope you have been hearing stories from your child about all we have done, but hopefully this post can help fill you in. We have begun our learning curriculum this week, so that means your child has jumped right back into math lessons, writing activities, and much more. For this post, I will specifically be focusing on what has been happening during our science period. This week, we are learning about the three states of matter: solid, liquid, and gas. However, we all had the opportunity to create something that's in between a solid and a liquid: slime! 

Slime is in between a solid and a liquid. It's also very fun to make!

Image from: https://images.app.goo.gl/VuHHxJirvSAcrTPq6

That's right! Your child got to make slime! The looks on their faces as they watched it form and played with it were absolutely amazing. The ingredients we used to make the slime were simple. We used water, liquid starch, and Elmer's school glue. Students also had the option to add food coloring. When these ingredients were all mixed together, it created the great, gooey substance we were looking for. In doing this experiment, it taught the students about the properties of the various states of matter, and how there are some things that are in between (like toothpaste). Also, it allowed the students to demonstrate their ability to use measuring cups and follow directions. You didn't want too much of one ingredient! Finally, slime is a fantastic way to stimulate the students' senses. Giving young children hands-on experiences is so good for their development and stimulates their curiosity. More than the tactile experience, slime provides students with visual and auditory sensations that are fun, as well. For more about this, here is link to an article that explains the importance of sensory play for children: 

https://www.forbes.com/sites/jenniferpalumbo/2023/10/10/the-power-of-sensory-play-in-childhood-development/?sh=53304e724faa

This week's question is: What are some activities your child does at home that provides sensory stimulation, and is there a way we could incorporate those activities into our classroom?

Once again, thank you for everything you do. If you are up for it, you can easily make slime with your child at home! If you do, please let me know how your at-home experiment goes. I would love to hear about it!