Therapeutic Activity: 30 Minutes of Calm -- with SLIME!

Written By Guest User

Do you feel that you, or your child, is stressed, tense, or just needs a break from technology? If the answer is yes, this blog post is for you!

Stress is very common, and nearly one third of Americans are living with it (“Stress a Major Health," 2004). Daily stressors can include even the most common situations; from running late, suffering from a headache, or feeling like your to-do list is just too long. What do you do when life starts to feel too overwhelming; when stress is something you need an escape from? How, in my busy life, can I attempt to calm down myself, or my child in 30 minutes or less? The short answer is by having fun! The longer answer is through a mindfulness activity, which we have provided for you below.

slime.jpg

Children (and adults, let's be honest!) love SLIME, and over the past few years it has become a growing fad. Working with slime qualifies as a mindfulness activity, and a recent study at Harvard University proves that these practices can have positive effects on the brain (Powell, 2018). "Mindfulness" as we know it "is the basic human ability to be fully present, aware of where we are and what we’re doing," and allows us to enter a mental space where we are not overly reactive or overwhelmed by what’s going on around us ("What is Mindfulness," 2019, para. 2).

The slime acts as a stress ball -- stress balls work because the physical energy you have is being taken out on something, which then allows you to calm down. Think about what happens after you exercise: after you have physically exhausted yourself in some way, you have released energy and typically are at a lower level than before you started. Likewise, after your body gets the negative energy out with a stress ball, or in this case, slime, it is able to calm itself down (“Do Stress Balls,” 2017).

So, prepare to use your slime to squeeze out that extra negative energy or use it when you are nervous (as you would a fidget spinner). Have fun with it and be as creative as you want!

You will need:

  • a large bowl

  • glue

  • water

  • borax

  • food coloring (optional)

Start by adding as much glue as you want to the bowl, and then add an equal amount of water as you did glue. Mix this together (its going to be really sticky!), and, if desired, make your slime colorful by adding a few drops of the food coloring now.

Continue by adding a little bit of borax to the slime and glue, and start mixing; keep adding small amounts of borax to your mix until you have reached the consistency you want your slime.

When finished, PLAY! Our suggestion would be to keep the slime in the bowl (or on a smooth hard surface such as a finished wooden table or countertop). Squeeze, pull twist, bounce, twirl, poke, prod -- just please do not eat :)

Slime can be stored in a Tupperware container or similar. During or after the activity, feel free to explore by asking yourself or your child how the activity made them feel -- what is happening in your body? What are you thinking about? Is this something you would return to again? When did you last feel this way? Are they calmer than they were before the activity? Did they like or dislike the activity? This may be a great jumping off point to figuring out other therapeutic and mindful activities to involve yourself in for stress management.

Written by Camryn Elliott, Artful Life Intern, Psychology, Summer 2019

Modified by Jen Spanedda, Artful Life Intake Coordinator

REFERENCES

  • (2017, June 15). Do stress balls really work? Retrieved from https://www.brownmed.com/uncategorized/do-stress-balls-really-work/

  • (2019, July 26). What is Mindfulness? Retrieved from https://www.mindful.org/what-is-mindfulness/

  • Griffin, R. M. (2014, April 1). 10 Stress-Related Health Problems That You Can Fix. Retrieved from https://www.webmd.com/balance/stress-management/features/10-fixable-stress-related-health-problems#1

  • Powell, A. (2018, August 27). Harvard researchers study how mindfulness may change the brain in depressed patients. Retrieved from https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2018/04/harvard-researchers-study-how-mindfulness-may-change-the-brain-in-depressed-patients/

  • Spangler, Steve. “How to Make Slime - Elmer's Glue Recipes: Experiments: Steve Spangler Science.” The Lab, https://www.stevespanglerscience.com/lab/experiments/glue-borax-gak/

  • “Stress a Major Problem in the U.S., Warns APA.” American Psychological Association, American Psychological Association, 24 Oct. 2007, https://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2007/10/stress.

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