A Lesson on Liquids and Solids—Make Your Own Slime!

I taught a lesson on liquids and solids in my third-grade classroom using Dr. Seuss’s Bartholomew and the Oobleck. We made slime and the students loved it!

If you want to do an actual lesson, use the lesson as prescribed below. If you want to keep things simple, here are the two videos and the ingredients you need to make Oobleck:

**Bartholomew and the Oobleck read aloud: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9bo5N2N5zI **Oobleck Science video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nw8KaHglokQ **Oobleck recipe: 1 1/2 cups of cornstarch, 1 cup of water, a few drops of food coloring (any color!)

LIQUIDS AND SOLIDS LESSON 1. Read Bartholomew and the Oobleck. I have found that some of the read alouds online are bad quality- i.e. the reader’s voice is annoying, or the video/taping is bad which means your child is not going to pay attention to it. This read aloud is AWESOME. You can see the pictures very clearly and the reader’s voice is very professional. It also gives your child the option of reading it to themselves or being read to.

2. After the read aloud, talk about the story together. (The King was bored with everyday weather so he made sticky stuff fall from the sky. The young boy in the story, Bartholomew Cubbins, must rescue his kingdom from a sticky green substance called "oobleck." ) 3. We are going to make our own Oobleck! What is so cool about Oobleck is that it is both a liquid and a solid at the same time without having to change temperature. When we watch the science video, you’ll see that if you roll it in a ball, it stays firm. Once you let go, the slime will turn into a liquid again.

4. In the journal, write the date on the top of the page. Title your page, Oobleck. Make one column titled LIQUIDS and another column called SOLIDS. Talk together to come up with different liquids and solids and write them in the journal. What are some things you think are solids? What are some things you think are liquids? (some things to talk about would be Cheerios, Legos, ice and water- you can actually bring these to the table as physical examples if you want)

Answers: Liquids: -Assumes the shaped of the container, which it occupies. -Is not easily compressible. -Flows easily.

Solids: -Has a definite volume and shape (whether upright or on its side, it stays the same) -Is not easily compressible -Does not flow easily 5. Gather the materials to make the Oobleck: 1 1/2 cups of cornstarch, 1 cup of water, a few drops of food coloring (any color!)

6. Watch this awesome science video about liquids and solids. She shows you how to make the Oobleck. You can make the Oobleck together while watching the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nw8KaHglokQ