Slime Time: How Unleashing Potential Afterschool Staff Came Up with Programming to Match Kinsley’s Interests
Program: Early Childhood Education
Kinsley loves slime. Her best friend knows how to make over a dozen different types, and during Covid-19, Kinsley watched videos of child Youtubers making it.
So when Ms. Shawnica and Ms. Zoe introduced an experiment where the children could choose between making different types of slime, Kinsley was all-in.
The kids could choose between sparkle slime, fluffy slime or clear slime. Kinsley chose sparkle slime. She joined with Ms. Zoe and two others, and they got to work.
First, they performed measurements, Kinsley working on her math skills as she measured out 1 ¼ tablespoons of contact lens solution with a half-tablespoon measuring spoon. Next, they chose colors. Kinsley chose blue, green, purple and white. Then they needed to mix it all together. But the mixers weren’t working well. So Kinsley decided to get messy.
“She is so creative,” Ms. Zoe said. “She didn’t mind getting her hands in, and I loved it.”
These aren’t the only experiments they’ve done during the Unleashing Potential afterschool program. Other ideas have included making a Leprechaun Concoction, where they mixed baking soda, vinegar and a squirt of dishwashing soap to cause green foam to spray out of the top and ooze down the side of the container. Another time, they filled a balloon with salt, then placed it over the rim of a soda bottle, so that when the salt interacted with the soda, the balloon would inflate.
Kinsley loves these experiments. Science is her favorite subject. She gets it from her mom, who knows “a lot of scientific facts,” she said.
“I want to learn more and get smarter and know why things work the way they do,” she said. “And I love the ideas Ms. Shawnica and Ms. Zoe bring to the program.”
*Actual student/name has been changed to protect child’s identity
