Free Trapped LEGO Minifigures from Slime Activity

LEGO minifigures are trapped in slime and they need your help to get out! Free the LEGO minifigures from the sticky mess and save the day.

Save-LEGO-from-Slime-Activity

I think if you have to pick two things my kids like to play with the most, it would have to be slime and LEGO. 

Both make a mess. One might kill your carpet. The other might kill your foot if you step on it. 

But both so, so educational and so fun.

Put them together? You get a match made in heaven.

Today, our LEGO Minifigures were in trouble. They somehow ran into a slime monster (don’t ask, my kids made it up) and before they could run away, the slime monster gobbled them up. 

And now we had to free them from the slime monster and put them back together!

How to Save the LEGO Minifigures from Slime

Materials:

Directions:

1. Dissemble the LEGO Minifigures and put the parts in a pile on a surface.

2. Pour the entire bottle of Elmer’s Clear Glue into the bowl.

3. Add ¼ cup of water and mix.

4. If you are using food coloring, you can add a few drops and mix.

5. Add ½ teaspoon of baking soda and mix until fully incorporated.

6. If you want to add glitter or foam balls, add them and mix.

7. Slowly add contact solution into the bowl. It’s best to add a little, mix, and check the slime’s consistency before adding more. If you add too much, your slime will get too hard.

8. After the slime starts to come off the bowl, you can start using your hand to knead the slime. Kneading the slime will really help improve its consistency and the slime will be less sticky.

9. After you are satisfied with the slime’s consistency, pour it onto the LEGO Minifigure pieces. 

Free LEGO from Slime Activity Trapped Minifigures

10. Knead to incorporate the pieces.

11. Have your kid pick out the LEGO pieces and put them aside.

Free LEGO from Slime Activity Pick Out LEGO

12. After your kid takes out all the LEGO pieces, have him/her put the Minifigures back together and save the day!

Free-LEGO-from-Slime-Activity

One of the worries I had was that the LEGO pieces were going to get slime stuck on them. Even though when you first take them out, they do have a decent amount of slime on them, you can easily take the slime off. I use a piece of slime and stick the slime off the LEGO.

Here is a picture of the LEGO pieces after we “saved” them from the slime monster:

Free-LEGO-from-Slime-Activity-LEGO-Pieces

You can see that there was barely any slime on them.

You can use any slime recipe for this activity. We chose to use clear glue so that we can spot the LEGO pieces easily. There was no rhyme or reason why we put food coloring, glitter, or foam balls in the slime except that my daughter wanted to.

Caution: The foal balls do get stuck in the holes of the LEGO pieces. You can get them out but it might take some effort.

The Science Behind Slime

Slime is a non-Newtonian fluid

Newtonian fluids are liquids that pour and behave like water, oil, and alcohol. Changes in temperature have an effect on Newtonian fluids. For example, when a fluid is heated, it tends to become less viscous, and vice versa. Viscosity is how quickly or slowly a substance flows.

The viscosity of non-Newtonian fluids can be affected by factors other than temperature. For example, when we apply shear stress by squeezing and kneading the slime, the slime becomes thicker. However, when we remove the shear force and let the slime sit on the table for a little, it will become less viscous and flow into a puddle.

How Slime is Formed

Slime is made from adding borax to white glue and water.

Glue is a polymer or a long chain of repeating molecules. These chains are able to slide past each other.

When borax (the boric acid and sodium borate in the contact solution) is added to the glue and water, cross-linking occurs and large molecules are formed in such a way that they are no longer able to slide past each other.

The result is our beloved slime!

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Final Thoughts on the Free the LEGO Pieces from Slime Activity

Feel free to experiment with different types of slime for this activity. You can use white glue to make finding the LEGO pieces a little harder. You can even use different colored glue or glitter glue. You can make fluffy or butter slime for a completely different texture.

If you are a slime fan, you know the possibilities are endless! 

To step up the difficulty, you can have your kid pick out the slime with tongs, tweezers, or even chopsticks!

And if you do have slime stuck on your LEGO pieces, soak them in a bit of vinegar and the slime should harden. You can then scrape off the slime. Wash the LEGO with a bit of dish soap afterward and dry.

I hope you had a lot of fun learning about slime and saving the LEGO Minifigures from doom! 


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