Dripping Slime Fine Motor Skill Activity

One of the easiest activities I make with my kids is slime. Also known by the name of flubber, gak, and slime, this form of play dough takes mere minutes to make and is such a fun form of sensory play! Because Christmas season is nearing, we decided to make this slime “icicle coloured.” Our FAVOURITE thing to do with this medium is to put it into a colander or onto a cooling rack, tie it so it is hanging about 2 feet off of the floor, waiting for the slime to ooze down, and then letting my kids cut the icicles or dripping slime.

Here is the how-to for dripping slime.

Dripping Slime Activity

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What To Use

• Standard-sized bottle of Elmer’s white glue (120 mL)
• Food colouring  (optional)
• Glitter (optional)
• 1 tsp. Borax
• 1 cup warm water
• 1/4 cup room temp water
• Colander or cooling rack for baking
• Scissors
• 2 even pieces of string

Instructions

In a cup of warm water, mix 1 tsp of Borax until fully dissolved. Then, set aside. Make sure to set aside because mixing it in too soon will mean you won’t be able to add colour or glitter to your mixture. In a separate bowl, combine 1/4 of room temperature water (this will just make your final product a little larger than if you didn’t use it), the entire bottle of Elmer’s glue or similar, glitter (optional), and as much food colouring until desired colour is reached.

Mix well. I do recommend using fine glitter as bigger pieces of glitter tend to fall out when the slime is manipulated. Add water borax mixture. Then mix with your hands (there will be water left over in the bowl, simply discard water. Option to let the mixture stand for excess water to bead off.

Then, fasten a colander or cooling rack across two chairs. We have also used cupboard handles or our chandelier. Wait about 3-5 minutes for icicles to drip and then cut away!

What they’re learning

• Cause and effect as well as the other benefits of sensory play.
• What is a chemical reaction: the borax chemically reacts with the glue making a liquid into a solid.
• Fine motor skills, how to use scissors and hand-eye coordination!

You can make it seasonal by changing the colours and adding glitter. We made Christmas Tree slime as well as blue for dripping icicles (photographed below).

Want more activities like this? Be sure to click below to check out a book I co-authored!

More great ideas like this:

How to make bouncy balls – a fun, hands-on science lesson

Three Simple Science Experiments for Preschoolers

Why Sensory Play is so Important – Backed by research

How to get slime out of carpet

Awesome ways to play with slime