Magnetic Slime
Slime is all the craze these days – you won’t avoid seeing it in a lot of stores. But have you heard of MAGNETIC slime? If the kids thought normal slime was cool, wait until they see this experiment! Making it even better is that it doesn’t take many supplies and is a quick activity to see the reaction.
Supplies
- 1 bottle of school glue
- 3 tbsp magnetic powder
- Up to 4 oz of liquid starch (this will depend upon the amount of glue used)
- Neodymium magnets (it is important this kind of magnet is used, as your typical, everyday magnets on the fridge will not work – they are not strong enough)
Note : this magnetic slime experiment is meant for older kids who will not swallow the powder as it is not safe to inhale or ingest. Neodymium magnets are very strong, so it is recommended for this experiment to be conducted away from electronics and for magnets to remain together to avoid pinching fingers.
Because cause we *really* wanted to make this amazing goo and didn’t have any ferrous powdered metals around (that I knew of), I decided it might be kind of cool to make our own. Go science! So for others who happen by this site – a good substitute for the ferrous oxide would be laser printer powder (if you have it handy).
Instructions
Combine the glue and magnetic powder in a bowl, and stir until well mixed (we used a craft stick).
Once completed, slowly add liquid starch to begin forming the slime. Mix well. Continue to slowly add starch and mix until the desired consistency is reached. We ended up using just about the same amount of glue and starch as we had a lot of glue!
Once consistency is reached, take slime out of the bowl and knead together with clean, dry hands.
The slime acts like a slime until you move the magnets close…Then watch what happens!
The neodymium magnets interact with the magnetic powder to bring the two together. We watched what happened when we simply left the magnet on top of the slime, and it got “swallowed”! My older kids loved this so much they continuously unburied the magnets only to repeatedly put them back on top to watch them “drown” in the slime. The slime can be kept in an air tight container for following days of more fun!
Want to continue the magnetic slime experiment? See what happens when different types of magnets are used with the slime. Do you get the same reaction?
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Photographs and content by: Heather Kucenski
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