Monster Slime Mess



Gelatin Play is a new play material we have been experimenting with lately. This messy play was put together the night before by simply mixing gelatine powder, hot water and food colour. I used a star-fish snack tray and filled it up with some small plastic animals and put it in the fridge to set.

 

I put it on the glass table, set it out with some utensils and let Dimples go for it. Lets see where it lead us. As usual I love his imagination, today is was monster Slime. For a while it was Alien Poo but he kept coming back to monster slime.

He squished it through his fingers, and crushed and crushed and crushed it until the rubbery mass turned into a slippery slime. It made some pretty awesome sounds as he squeezed it in the palm of his hand and pushed it into the circular part of the tray. These 'fart' sounds were quite humorous to him, he was in hysterics making all sorts of sounds. Monster Farts he would exclaim in giggling fits of laughter.

With a knife and fork he cut some up, of course it was easy to cut but this task required lots of concentration and control. Hand eye co-ordination as he sliced it, holding the knife upright and then practising using a big spoon, scooping it all up and pouring it back into the dish.

He played for a good 40 minutes just experimenting with the texture, squishing it around and burying his hand under it. The only rule he had was to keep it on the table (he almost succeeded in this) it was quite a mess so be warned, but he done well and enjoyed the mess for much longer than I had expected.

I grabbed out a paper towel roll tube and gave it to him without instructions or any ideas and he did exactly as I expected. Used it as a tunnel and poured the slime through it.
Dimples experimented with gravity for a while, filling it up while it was level and then tipping it up and watching it all pour through.  He did get a little wild for a moment, as I was in the kitchen I turned around to see him doing a helicopter motion above his head with the tube and a trail or goo flying out. After I reminded him of the rules he didn't do it again and continued playing

More squishy sounds, more giggles and more imaginative stories. Alien slime, monster slime, an Aliens toilet, this dropped out of their space ship- Aliens must eat sharks and ocean creatures for dinner! The things he comes up with when he gets on a roll amuses me.

 

 Mixing, stirring, pouring, scooping, squishing and slicing up the slime. It went on for another 20 minutes as he used his utensils and by that time the slime had turned into more of a liquid. Then he made what he told me was a clock, a circular pattern in the slime by twisting the tube around. Dimples played around drawing through the liquid slime and making patterns through it on the glass table. Thankfully after he was done, he happily helped me clean it all up. Give him some clothes and a spray bottle and he will clean up just about anything, but this required a mummy clean and a good bath as he had it plopped all over the front of him, on his face and all over the place.
Dont let this put you off though, it was one of the most enjoyable activities he has done in a long while and he kept with it for longer than usual. The food colour doesnt stain and it is really easy to clean up as it doesnt dry on any surface.

Happy Adventures :)