STEM Spiderwebs with String Slime™
This Spider Web STEM Challenge is an interactive, hands-on activity that has you plan, create, and test your spider web designs. Collaborate as you create a spider web that can hold the most number of “flies” possible.
Follow the steps below as you engage in this lesson with your class using Steve Spangler’s String Slime™ and Steve Spangler’s String Slime™ Activator.
- Steve Spangler’s Clear String Slime™
- String Slime Activator Solution
- Pipe Cleaners
- Cookie Sheet
Optional: Decide what type of spiderweb you’d like to create! Think about the thickness, size, and shape. Maybe sketch out how you’d like it to look on a piece of paper.
Take a cookie sheet or wide shallow plate and lay it on a flat table.
Start to design your spiders/flies using pipe cleaners. Be creative! It can be as simple as two tiny pieces of pipe cleaners twisted together or several pipe cleaners so your spider has alot of legs.
Use the String Slime™, draw the spider web in the bottom of the cookie sheet. Make sure all the lines are connecting.
Mix up a cup of a water with the activator solution. Stir with a spoon so the activator dissolve in the water. Pour it in the tray covering your string slime goo.
Shake the cookie sheet/plate gently so that the activator and water cover all parts of their spider web.
Gently pick up the spider web out of the Activator Solution and spread the spider web out. You may need an extra set of hands to get this just right!
As a finishing touch you can toss you flies and spiders you’ve created into the web, in hopes that they will attach.