We like to tie our holiday STEM activities into the traditional elements of Christmas. One of our favorite holiday stories is How the Grinch Stole Christmas.
This year, we brought slime and STEM together in one by making a Grinch science experiment! Use it to round out your How the Grinch Stole Christmas lesson plans and as part of Christmas slime recipes!
Make Christmas STEM activities super fun with this The Grinch slime recipe!
DIY The Grinch Slime Recipe
Make this super-easy, sparkly Grinch slime and add science to the fun.
We had such fun with our Halloween STEM, we decided to do it again by completing a bunch of Christmas science experiments.
How the Grinch Stole Christmas is one of our favorite Christmas books, so we decided to do something Grinch-themed for one of our first Christmas activity ideas.
The girls loved making this Grinch slime!
How to Set-Up the Grinch Slime Activity
In just a few minutes, you’ll have your very own Grinch slime. It stretches and grows, just like his heart!
Read the story first, then do this fun Grinch STEM activity!
The Grinch Slime Supplies
Make sure you have the following ingredients for your Grinch slime recipe.
You may also want to add these STEM supplies to your Grinch STEM activity as well!
How the Grinch Stole Christmas Slime Lesson Plan
After reading the Grinch story, explain the science behind slime before getting started on this activity!
Slime forms because when the borax powder is added to glue, it creates polymer chains.
These chains thicken the glue so it becomes less sticky and stretchier.
To bring the activity back to the Grinch, use red water beads to represent his heart.
When the beads are dry, they are small, but when they are added to the slime, they absorb water and become larger!
If you use water beads, you can also explain absorption as a scientific concept along with the science of slime and polymer chains.
How to Make Grinch Slime
Making the Grinch slime is the easiest thing in the world. Keep reading to find out how to do it!
Pour the green glitter glue into a small bowl.
Fill the empty bottle of glue with warm water and add to the glue.
Mix until the glue and water are combined.
In another bowl, mix about 1/2 a cup of water and a teaspoon of Borax powder.
Stir until the Borax is dissolved. Add your water beads to this mixture, if you are using them.
Wait for the beads to expand before moving to the next step (this can take about an hour).
Add the Borax water to the glue water and mix.
In about 60 seconds, the glue will transform into stretchy slime.
Let the kids play with the slime as long as they like.
One thing we’ve noticed about using clear glue rather than white glue is that the slime is less stretchy.
It is more prone to breaking and requires more careful handling than slime made with white glue.
If you want even more flexible slime, try how to make slime with liquid starch.
However, we love the clear, sparkly look of glitter slime, so we put up with the breakage.
One alternative is to simply add glitter to opaque glue, if you want a stretchier slime.
We also like adding plastic confetti hearts to the slime to make it possible to play with the hearts and the slime at the same time.