Modeling and Testing Physical Properties of Slime
An exploration of an engineering brief from a mock toy company leads students to explore a new slime with a unique set of characteristics. Using simple directions, students create five different types of slime and classify their slime properties against the criteria provided by the mock toy company. Based on their observations, they identify the best slime recipe based on the resulting physical properties.
Create slime in this classic engineering activity for students!Copyright 2019 Sara Ibis
Material engineers manipulate the physical and chemical properties of matter to create new materials. Materials engineers develop, process, and test materials used to create a wide range of products. Thinking like material engineers, students test differing ratios of slime-making solutions to determine which mixture creates the slime properties desired by the toy company.
After this activity, students should be able to:
- Describe and classify the properties of different types of slime.
- Use simple tests to identify which slime has the properties best suited to the design brief.
- Create a simple bar graph showing the results of their tests.