Glow in the Dark Flubber

My class has been exploring lights this week. Naturally this means means our light table had to have something interesting and engaging. We decided to make Glow-In-The-Dark Flubber. 

The children pulled out the light table toys to stick on the flubber. I loved this little butterfly.

When you press translucent materials onto the flubber, the light shines through from below. 

Here is the recipe:

      Get yourself 3 cups of glue, 6 cups of hot water (I like to microwave it for a minute...it does not have to be boiling), 2 tbs of borax, glow-in-the-dark paint, 2 bowls, and (optional) a mixing spoon. 

     In the first bowl, mix 3 cups of glue, 4 cups of hot water, and 2-3 oz of glow in the dark paint. Stir it up.

     In the second bowl, mix the 2 cups of water with the 2 tbs of borax. Stir it really well until all the borax is dissolved! Then SLOWLY pour it into the glue water mixture, mixing it with a spoon or your hands. Pour a little, knead it a little. When it starts forming a ball, and pulling away from the sides of the bowl, it is ready to be played with. 

Store it in an airtight container. It can be used for weeks if you take care of it.

**Note**The children can help with all of this, but depending on how hot your water is, make sure to have an adult supervising and helping. This recipe contains borax, which cannot be ingested. Be sure to make this recipe with children who are past the mouthing stage (ages 3 and up)!

Invite the children to touch and describe the water-glue mixture before adding the borax mixture. Then ask them how it feels after. They can all help mix with their hands for that sensory experience.This stuff is so much fun to play with! 

We put it on the light table, and then turned out the lights...

Happy playing!

Glow Sticks in Big Boxes!

Fun with glow sticks just don't stop!

...especially when you have large boxes to create dark, cozy spaces.

The view from inside.

This is what it looks like with flash...The kids brought pillows and blankets inside to make it cozy.

This is what it looks like with no flash!

What is the purpose of glow sticks? I guess there is none, other than they are really fun! I guess that is what a play-based classroom is all about...learning while having FUN.

You can almost see their smiling faces. :)

Christopher connected several glow sticks together, building fine motor skills. The kids used the connectors to create bracelets, necklaces, and...

...a WHIP!

The shorter box was juuust big enough for the little ones to crawl into.

While the bigger box could comfortably fit 3 children, and still "close the doors," which was their favorite part, of course.

I had to take pictures through the cracks in the doors...which was pretty tricky!

If they weren't able to close the doors themselves, they had friends help (pro-social behavior). They also used heavy objects as props to hold the flaps shut (inquiry and problem solving). These are skills that were encouraged not through the teacher coaching...rather by simply adding to the environment. 

Children need cozy spaces to "get away" from the noisiness of a busy classroom. I experienced this first-hand, when I had an extra teacher. I crawled inside the smaller box (only half of my torso could fit), along with Braeden, and instantly, the noises from the classroom were muted. It was just me and Braeden, making happy faces with glow sticks.

All children need a space where they can "get away," even if it's just to explore glow sticks with your best buddies.

I love the bracelets!

As to be expected, there were a few scraps over who would get a turn...

...this was quickly remedied by the use of 3 minute sand timers (I had them flip them over twice so each group got a six minute turn).

But even this was not enough. I quickly realized we needed yet another dark, cozy space...

So I put a large table cloth over a table, added some carpet squares on the floor, and voila! Another dark, cozy area for glow stick play. It wasn't as dark as the boxes of course, but still fun. This photo was taken without the flash.

When parents came in to drop off a child, they would ask, "Where are all the kids?" :)

My classroom looked almost empty for three days, and with the lights off, it must have seemed that way!

This is a view from inside the large box. They finally opened the doors, and I got a few sneaky pictures of the glow stick magic...

Happy playing! 

Glow Sticks In the Sensory Table

Last week, our class explored glow sticks! 

We put the glow sticks in the sensory table, and added water, a little bit of dish soap (to make the water more opaque), and turned off the lights.

Our lights stayed off for three days!

Glow sticks add a new sensory experience to plain water.

The table initially attracted a huge crowd, but the crowd dissipated after I introduced glow sticks in large boxes (next post!).

Still...there is a magic about glow sticks in water...

A picture with the flash on.

Flash off.

(For some reason, my camera took warped photos, so I apologize for the quality of the next few pictures).

Water is calming in nature. It is soothing to fill and pour it over and over again. I make it a point to have it available every day, whether it is indoors or out.

The glow sticks made the containers glow, but none were quite as breath-taking as the white one.

Have you explored glow sticks lately? 

Happy playing!

Flubber in a Strainer

 
I've posted about how wonderful flubber is before. 

Flubber is a staple in our classroom. 

Lately, we've been experimenting with it. 

I've read about putting flubber in a strainer in the Ooey Gooey books, and saw it in action here at Casa Marias Creative Learning Zone. 

All I really needed was a strainer to get the ball rolling, and I found a really nifty one with handles!

I used a sturdy string tied on each side of it to hang it. I'm not tall enough to reach the ceiling, even standing on a chair, so I hung it on our cubby hooks.

It takes a while before anything interesting happens, but after about twenty minutes or so, they started noticing the flubber in a strainer.

It was REALLY hard for them not to touch it, but I wanted them to see the full effect of dripping flubber before playing with it.

...And then they could touch it! :)

Chris experiments with touching the flubber with his nose...and makes a discovery.
"I can see through it!"

It has an interesting effect. The flubber takes on the properties of a liquid in SLOOOOW motion. I love the little rain drops.

They had fun pulling on the flubber and knocking down the little rain drops. Be warned...if you decide to try this...lay down a some newspapers or a tarp, because they will be sure to knock the little pieces EVERYWHERE! If you don't, well, it was easy enough to sweep up.

The next day, using the assistance of my 6 foot tall co-teacher, Mr. Matt, the flubber was hung from the ceiling (during nap time.) We added a funnel, too.

The display began attracting attention during snack time.

After they finished eating, they couldn't resist the flubber table. As the flubber dripped and broke, they loved to catch it and use it for play.

The glass stones add a special element to play.

 Here was the view looking up.

 

 

How magical!

 

Happy playing!