Tag Archives: science

Toddler Activity: DIY Star Wars Slime

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May the Fourth be with you… okay, Happy Star Wars Day! To celebrate this fun little holiday, Mila and I made slime for the first time. We had a blast with our little DIY and I loved introducing her to slime and the force.

If you’ve never made slime or hate how sticky some recipes are, this one was actually great. It was a few simple steps that’ll make you actually want to make slime with your kids.

Here’s what you’ll need:

The first thing to do is empty out the entire bottle of glue in a bowl. We did glow in the dark glue with sparkles in it. I thought it would be unique and it reminded me of Star Wars.

To get all of the glue out, I cut the bottle in half and spooned out what wouldn’t come out.

Then, add the baking soda to the glue. You’ll need to mix this up and it starts to get really thick. Mila loved helping mix it at this stage, as well as pouring everything into the bowl. I did end up having to help her at this point because it did get difficult.

After it’s mixed together, add food coloring to it. We chose purple because it’s on of Mila’s favorite colors, but it’s reminds us of space and galaxies. Of course, we added more sparkles too.

Next, add the contact solution.

This will make the slime almost impossible to mix. It immediately clung to the spoon when we started mixing it. After a minute, I ended up mixing the slime with my hands. It was way better kneading it with both of my hands.

Although our slime wasn’t sticky, you could add more contact solution if needed.

Mila was a part of the entire process, but it was still fun to present it to her with Star Wars stickers. She loved pressing the stickers into the slime and asking what all of their names were.

We talked about the characters being in space and that’s what the slimed looked like. It’s great because she knows that the moon and sun are in space. She might not grasp the entire concept of space yet, but it’s fun seeing her learn more about our universe each day.

As much as we had fun talking about Star Wars and space, Mila really just had a blast playing with the slime!

With how well our first slime making experience went, we will definitely be making more in the future too. It was also such a fun way to get Mila started with the Star Wars universe. I’ll love it when she is old enough to watch the series with me. If I had to guess, Princess Leia buns will be next.

What’s your favorite slime recipe and do you enjoy the Star Wars films?

Before you go, check out how strong the force is with these DIY moms and their kids.

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Toddler Activity: Stormy Clouds Experiment

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Rain rain, go away, come back another day! Or if you insist on staying, it’s a perfect time to introduce the water cycle to toddlers.

Mila LOVE experimenting. I try to tailor to her learning style as much as I can. She would prefer doing an experiment every day, but that’s not always possible. Thankfully, teaching her about rain and the water cycle gives us an amazing opportunity to get dirty and make what she calls Stormy Clouds.

This experiment is fun for both toddlers and adults. It not only talks about the rain cycle, but you can incorporate color recognition, the Scientific Method, and motor skills too; so much learning packed in one rainy day activity.

Here’s what you’ll need to make stormy clouds:

I’m going to first start off by saying this activity can get messy. Whenever there is food coloring, it somehow gets everywhere. I’d recommend placing a plate, mat, or some sort of paper under your big jar. Of course, food coloring will clean up, but it’s nice to just take some precautions.

Once you get an area where you’ll experiment set up, fill a big clear jar with water. The jar I used had a lip on it. I filled it up to the bottom of the lip so it gave me some room to put the shaving cream.

Next, mix your food coloring with water in little jars and bowls. Your child will be either scooping the colored water with a spoon or using a pipette. I used very small Tupperware containers for this step. For the water/food color combination, I used 8-10 drops of food coloring and eyeballed the water. I wasn’t too scientific about the measurements!

Then, add shaving cream to look like a cloud on top of the BIG jar of water. I did this step after the food coloring because Mila would not have had enough patience to wait for all of the colors.

After you’re set with the cloud, have your toddlers start spooning or dripping the dyed water over the could.

It takes a little bit for the water to penetrate through the cloud, but once it does, it’ll look like rain drops are coming out of it. Mila enjoyed using purple the best since it was easier to see. Although, it was fun to do a huge mix of colors.

Throughout the experiment, we talked about how clouds make the rain and then it goes down to Earth. I’m not a huge science buff, so I turned to Little Raindrop, which is a cute book that talks age appropriately about the water cycle! It has adorable pictures and tells the story about a single raindrop. Mila got this when she was one and it was too advanced for her. At almost three, it’s perfect!

Even if your child is not interested in learning about the water cycle or even into rain, the activity is fun to just make a mess and play with colors. I showed a group of adults this activity and they enjoyed it too. It really is fun watching the shaving cream turn different colors.

Next time it’s raining or anytime you want a hands on activity to do with your child, this Stormy Clouds Experiment is perfect!

If you liked or tried this activity, let me know in the comments!

Check out these rainy day activities from other moms!

Toddler Activity: Fireworks Before Midnight Experiment

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Let’s first start this off by saying… HAPPY NEW YEAR! We’re not quite there yet, but oh so close.

Mila and I did fireworks at noon, in case she doesn’t stay up. Its a little science experiment that I thought I’d share here. We did it a few times, if that gives you a time estimate.

It was fun and Mila loved helping too!

Here’s what you’ll need…

  • Jar
  • Water
  • Food coloring
  • Oil

Yes! It’s that easy.

All you do is fill up the jar with water. Put the food coloring in the oil. Then, slowly pour it in.

The food coloring escapes the oil and creates ‘fireworks.’ Mila thought they looked like different things. It made me smile to know she’s connecting so many different things.

I took a video of our experiment and wanted to post it here.

Again, Mila and I hope you have a happy and safe New Year’s Eve!

Toddler Activity: Christmas Lava Lamp Experiment

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Since I’m on a roll this week, here’s another quick and easy holiday project you can do with your child. Mila loved this activity, but I messed up with it. Oops!

We did this a few days ago, but it’s a DIY lava lamp. The white was supposed to look like a snowstorm and the red is just festive.

I’ll tell you the correct way to do it and how I messed up. Who doesn’t love learning from their mistakes.

Here’s what you’ll need:

  • Oil (you can use any kind, but I used vegetable)
  • Water
  • Alka Seltzer Tabs
  • Food coloring
  • Jars

I had everyone on hand, other than the Alka Seltzer tabs. You can find them about anywhere if you don’t have them.

The first part is where I messed up. You’re supposed to fill the jar up 2/3 of the way. I filled 2/3 of the jar with water. We make mistakes. Mine was just a big one for this experiment. It still worked though!

So, fill 2/3 of the jar with oil. Then combine your food coloring and water together to fill up the rest of the jar. Obviously, kids love to help, so they can definitely pour the oil and water into the jars.

Next, get your alka seltzer tabs out. Don’t let your child eat them! But, break them up in smaller pieces for them to put in the jar.

I personally did different sizes and let Mila put a full tab in there as well. I thought it was fun for her to see the difference in the reactions. You could even do this beforehand too.

Next, have them start putting pieces in.

In my one time experience, Mila thought this was cool. She wanted to put all of them in at once. I tried to tell her to do one at a time, but she’d sneak some when I wasn’t looking.

In the future, I’ll definitely do this experiment again… and do it the right way. It was fun to ask Mila what she was noticing. She immediately understood the tabs were making the bubbles. As she gets older, there will be more questions and observations I could ask her too.

As you can see, it is pretty cool! The red turned out way better than the white, but I think this is the oil/water issue that I had.

I hope you can do this fun experiment with your child this week. It’s always great to mix science in your routine at home.

Happy experimenting!

Mommy and Me Art Box: Mila’s First Chemical Reaction

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Mila’s second Mommy and Me Art Box came in and it definitely did not disappoint. Yesterday it let Mila become a scientist. Let’s just say, she loved it.

This month’s box is centered around Mother’s and Father’s Day. There are a lot of crafts to make for them. One of them is an item I’ve never worked with, so I’ll have to update how that goes. There was also one science experiment that we had to try right away.

Like last month’s box, every activity comes packaged separately and is color coded AND it included everything you need. It’s so nice because I can just pull out whatever activity and get right to work. I like how everything’s labeled on the little directions and the items too.

With this experiment, Mila was able to get things in place too. As I opened everything, she placed candy pieces in the candy mold. Some pieces might have disappeared too.

This is a little baking soda and vinegar experiment; the candies color the bubbles. Although most of us know what happens when these two mix, Mila had no idea.

At first she was shocked that the liquid she was putting on there was making it fizz. She kept saying woah and wanting more. After the first round of baking soda and vinegar, I asked her to help me sprinkle more on there. It sort of got a little messy, but we had fun. Seeing her reactions were priceless, especially when she accidentally dumped vinegar all over the mold.

In all, we played with this activity for thirty minutes… which was when we ran out of baking soda and vinegar. If I would have had more outside, she would have easily played for longer. I can definitely see us doing this again too! A little side note though, if you include candies in your experiment, there’s a huge chance they’ll be a snack.

Mila nabbed all the candy hearts… I’m unsure what vinegar and candy tastes like and wouldn’t eat it myself, but Mila didn’t mind. I guess that’s what being two is all about.

Again, this is the Mommy and Me Art Box! We’re on month two and LOVE all the activities and can’t wait to see how the rest go.