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Weird Science Party -6yr- Home Made Slime

January 2002

Jennifer in Houston, TX  USA

Special Mention

Weird Science Party  Here is a really fun party that we did for our son's 6th birthday.  We had a total of 27 kids in attendance (plus the parents who didn't want to leave). 

Invitations:  I ordered plastic test tubes with screw on lids from a science company on the internet.  We printed the invites on the computer with the wording..."Ooze on over to Jack's Wild Lab for a Weird Science Birthday Party".  Then the particulars of the party.  We put this paper inside the test tubes and delivered.  They were even easy to mail inside one of those bubble envelopes. 

Opening Activity:  As each child arrived, we put a disposable apron on them to protect clothing.  (I tried to find child sized lab coats but was unsuccessful.)  We also gave each child a color coded necklace to divide them up in "lab teams".  I'll discuss that more later.  My husband and son made a huge volcano out of a 2 liter soda bottle, some poster board and paper mache.  It was HUGE.  The kids painted this volcano while we waited for everyone to arrive.  Then we put the volcano aside to dry and use later at the end of the party. 

Lab Teams:  Once all the kids were there, we had them divided into 3 different lab teams (9 kids each).  We had three different lab stations around the back yard.  Each station was manned by a "Weird Scientist" (a grown up volunteer).  These scientists were dressed in safety goggles and lab coats.  The groups were sent to a lab station for about 15-20 minutes, then rotated to the next station.  After three rotations, all the kids saw all three experiments and the crowd was pretty much under control at all times. 

Experiment One:  The kids made slime.  This was a lot of fun and took the longest of all the experiments.  I had purchased small plastic containers with lids at a restaurant supply store.  Each child received a container - they mixed an equal part of white glue and water (that had borax dissolved in it).  Then they put in a few drops of food coloring.  After stirring this together the glue and water molecules combined and formed the slime.  The kids loved the transformation and loved playing with their slime.  We put a lid on the containers, labeled with a marker and they took this home as a party favor. 

Experiment Two:  Sucking a hard boiled egg into a glass bottle.  This was my son's favorite and quite fascinating to watch.  First hard boil an egg and remove the shell.  Get a glass bottle that has an opening smaller than the egg.  (We used a starbuck's frappuccino bottle).  Boil some water.  Show the kids how the egg will not fit into the bottle.  Then remove the egg.  Pour boiling water into the bottle and let sit for a minute or two.  Pour out the water.  Place the egg back on the opening of the bottle.  The air pressure created by the hot water inside the bottle will literally suck the egg into the bottle.  It takes a little bit of time, but it is so fun!  Once the egg is inside the bottle, you can pour hot water on the outside of the bottle, tilt the bottle upside down and the egg will come back out unharmed. 

Experiment Three:  Acids and Bases.  This is fun to see if the kids can guess what color the water will turn.  To set up before the party, first boil a red cabbage in a large pot of water, until the water is a dark purple.  Pour some of the purple liquid (about half way) into a pitcher.  Fill the pitcher the rest of the way up with tap water so the water is a medium shade of purple.  Pour this purple water into several clear plastic cups. 

At this lab station, have the clear plastic cups of purple liquid set up and have several household liquids on the table as well.  Items such as sprite, lemon juice, pickle juice, bleach, baking soda, etc. are excellent choices.  Show the kids that this purple water can show if something is an acid or a base.  Pour a small of each item into a cup of purple water.  If the liquid is an acid the water will turn pink, if it's a base it will turn blue.  Try mixing different combinations and see what happens.  If you put lemon juice in, the water will turn pink, then put in some baking soda and it will turn it purple again, add some more baking soda and it will turn blue.  Have the kids try to guess before what will happen. 

Decorations:  We made our yard into a techo lab.  Our colors were black and silver.  We had black and silver balloons, plates, cups, forks, napkins, and streamers. 

Cake:  We only served cake and ice cream at this party…but it was plenty.  We made the mad scientist cake from a Wilton catalog a couple of years back.  He looked like Albert Einstein with crazy white hair.  He was holding a test tubes with edible slime and gummy worms coming out of it.  We also make cupcakes with the edible slime and gummy worms too.  We served ice cream cups and juice boxes. 

Party Favors:  We gave each child a black shiny lunch bag filled with "sciency" things. There was a glow in the dark reptile, some pop rocks candy, a glow-lite necklace and their slime they made. 

Ending Activity:  After cake, ice cream, science experiments and opening presents…we brought out the huge volcano.  My husband had filled the inside with baking soda and had premixed a pitcher full of vinegar with red food coloring.  He poured in the vinegar and this volcano erupted and erupted and erupted.   

At the end, the kids were very tired…but they had so much fun learning about science.  Since this party, I have read so many fun ideas of different experiments we could have done, but we were very happy with the results of this party.  Most of the items for the experiments we already had, so the cost of this party was pretty low.  From start to finish it took about 2 hours - the perfect amount of time.  If you have a weird science party - the kids (and parents) will love it.  Have fun!!

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