Slime Science Fair Project Ideas & Experiments

It’s hard to land on a fun project for science fairs. Slime is always a winning idea.

From chemistry to physics, slime provides endless opportunities to explore how materials interact, change, and behave under different conditions. There’s plenty of ideas to make slime the perfect science topic for a hands-on, engaging science project that’s both fun and educational.

Whether you’re a student looking for inspiration or a teacher or parent helping to guide a budding scientist, these slime projects are a great way to have fun with science. Let’s explore the science of slime!

Choosing a Slime Science Fair Project

When deciding on a science project, pick something you can stick with (or guide you kids towards something they are interested in.) There’s going to be some time and effort spent, it may as well be on something fun.

Consider Your Interests; What about slime is the most interesting (e.g., texture, color changes, or stretchiness)? Another angle is what aspect of science is most engaging? Is it chemistry, physics, or scientific concepts like viscosity, elasticity, or chemical reactions?

• Science Concepts to Consider:
  • Chemistry: Polymers, cross-linking, and chemical reactions.
  • Physics: Non-Newtonian fluids, viscosity, and elasticity.
  • Material Science: How different materials interact to form new textures.
• Project Focus Ideas:
  • Experimenting with ingredients.
  • Testing environmental factors (like temperature or light).
  • Measuring slime properties like stretchiness, durability, or flow.

Project Idea #1: What Happens When You Change the Ratios in a Slime Recipe?

Most basic slime recipes use glue and a borax solution as the basic components. What happens when you change the ratios? What happens when you introduce other ingredients? How do they affect the slime texture, stretchiness, stiffness, smell, longevity, etc.?

• Overview: Test how changing the amounts of glue, borax, or water in a slime recipe affects its properties.
• Purpose: To understand how ingredient ratios change the texture and behavior of slime.
• Materials: White glue, borax powder or saline solution, water, measuring tools.
• Procedure: Make multiple batches of slime with different ratios of ingredients. Test and compare how the slime stretches, flows, and feels. Record your findings.
• Scientific Concept: The role of cross-linking in polymers. Investigate how too much or too little of each ingredient affects the structure of the polymer chains.

Project Idea #2: How Long Does Slime Last?

Slime is great, but it doesn’t last forever. How long does it take to degrade? What changes does it go through? What factors accelerate or slow the degradation? Are there storage methods that can make slime last longer?

• Overview: Investigate how slime’s properties change over time, exploring whether it dries out, hardens, or loses its stretchiness after a certain period.
• Purpose: To study the durability of slime under different storage conditions.
• Materials: White glue, borax or saline solution, water, airtight containers, and various storage environments (e.g., fridge, room temperature, open air, sealed containers.)
• Procedure: Make a batch of slime and store it in different environments. Over several days or weeks, observe and record how the slime’s texture and elasticity change.
• Scientific Concept: Investigate evaporation and how the loss of moisture affects polymers. Explore how different environmental conditions influence the degradation of slime.

Project Idea #3: How Does Temperature Affect Slime?

Like any materials, slime can behave differently depending on environmental conditions. Is slime still slimy when it’s frozen? How about when exposed to high temperatures, or left out in direct sunlight?

• Overview: Explore how temperature changes affect slime’s texture, stretchiness, and behavior.
• Purpose: To investigate whether slime behaves differently in warm, cold, and room temperature environments.
• Materials: White glue, borax or saline solution, water, and access to different temperature settings (freezer, warm water bath, oven, etc.)
• Procedure: Create identical batches of slime and expose each one to a different temperature. Measure and observe how temperature impacts the slime’s stretchiness, texture, and flow over time.
• Scientific Concept: The effect of temperature on polymers and their elasticity. Explore how cooling can make slime more brittle and heating can make it more fluid.

Project Idea #4: Slime vs. Oobleck: What’s the Difference?

Oobleck is another popular slimy substance that’s easy to make. How does it compare with other homemade slime? Compare and contrast the properties and why they behave the way they do.

• Overview: Compare the behavior of slime to oobleck (a cornstarch and water mixture) to explore the differences between traditional polymers and non-Newtonian fluids.
• Purpose: To learn how different substances can respond to force in different ways.
• Materials: White glue, borax or saline solution, cornstarch, water.
• Procedure: Make both slime and oobleck, then test how each behaves under stress (pulling, poking, squeezing, slapping, etc.) Observe which acts more like a liquid or a solid depending on the force applied.
• Scientific Concept: Non-Newtonian fluids and their unique properties. Examine why oobleck thickens under pressure while slime stays more elastic.

Project Idea #5: Can Slime Be Made Without Borax?

Most slime recipes use a borax solution or contact lens solution with boric acid/borate ions that combines with the glue to make it stretchy. What other slime ingredients can you use to create a similar effect?

• Overview: Create a non borax slime recipe
• Purpose: Explore alternative ways to make slime without using borax, and compare the results to traditional borax-based slime.
• Experiment: Create slime using alternative ingredients like baking soda and contact lens solution, or cornstarch, and compare the texture and stretchiness to a borax slime.
• Hypothesis: Can other substances create a similar cross-linking effect as borax?

Project Idea #6: Edible Slime: How Does Changing Ingredients Affect the Texture?

Some slimes look good enough to eat, but you probably wouldn’t want to chow down glue and laundry detergent (one of the main uses for borax.) What ingredients could you use that are safe to eat. What slime recipe could you make that’s actually a tasty treat?

• Overview: Make a slime that’s safe to eat
• Purpose: Create edible slime using safe, food-based ingredients and investigate how different ingredients affect its texture and stretch.
• Experiment: Make several batches of edible slime using ingredients like cornstarch, sugar, and gelatin. Compare their textures, stretchiness, and how they feel compared to non-edible slime.
• Hypothesis: How do edible ingredients affect the slime’s texture and consistency compared to traditional slime?

Project Idea #7: Can Slime Be Magnetic?

Test to see if your basic slime recipe reacts to magnets (spoiler: it doesn’t.) What if you could find a way to make slime react to magnets?

• Overview: Create magnetic slime and explore how adding iron filings to slime can give it magnetic properties.
• Purpose: To investigate how certain materials can change the behavior of slime and respond to magnets.
• Materials: White glue, borax powder or saline solution, water, iron filings, and strong magnets.
• Procedure: Make slime and add iron filings. Use a magnet to observe how the slime responds. Measure how far the slime stretches toward the magnet.
• Scientific Concept: Explore the concept of magnetism and how magnetic particles can be suspended in a polymer structure.

Tips for a Successful Science Fair Project

• Using the Scientific Method: Guide students through forming a hypothesis, conducting the experiment, and analyzing results. Check our post on the scientific method for kids.
• Documenting Your Findings: Emphasize the importance of keeping a science journal or recording observations throughout the experiment.
• Presenting Your Project: Create engaging science fair displays with clear explanations of the scientific concepts behind your slime science experiment. You can have the best ideas in the world, though a lack luster presentation can cause people to gloss over it and miss all of your hard work. You’ve got great ideas – spend some effort on presenting them!

Wrap-Up: Slime Science Fair Project Ideas

Science Fair time can be stressful, and you’re going to be (hopefully) spending some time on it. Choose a topic you can have fun with – like slime!

Slime science projects can be fun and creative, and are a great hands-on way to explore important scientific concepts. Whether you tested how different temperatures affect slime, investigated the differences between slime and oobleck, or created magnetic slime, you can dig into hard science concepts like chemistry, physics, and material science.

This should be enough to get started and get the ideas flowing. Use these ideas as a basis for your slime science project or inspiration to create something better.

Keep experimenting, stay curious, and who knows—your next discovery could be just a stretch or squish away!