Make a practical joke cup and bubbling slime with these activities from Highlights' latest Book of Things to Do

Highlights, the popular magazine for kids, has a new book out called "The Highlights Book of Things to Do" with more than 530 activities to build, play, experiment, craft and cook at home. And the publishers have shared two activities for kids and families that are perfect for the Halloween season.

Posted 12:39 a.m. Oct 21, 2020 — Updated 12:39 a.m. Oct 21, 2020

Sarah Lindenfeld Hall

, Go Ask Mom editor

Highlights, the popular magazine for kids, has a new book out called "The Highlights Book of Things to Do" with more than 530 activities to build, play, experiment, craft and cook at home. And the publishers have shared two activities for kids and families that are perfect for the Halloween season.

Practical Joke Cup

Gather:

Plastic cup
Pushpin
Pencil
Bendy straw
Scissors
Water

1. Do this activity over a sink. Use the pushpin to make a small hole in the bottom of the plastic cup.

2. Widen the hole with a pencil until the straw can just fit through.

3. Insert the straw from beneath the cup, and pull it partway through the hole. Bend the short section of the straw so it stays down.

4. Cut off the end that sticks out of the bottom of the cup.

5. Fill the cup with different levels of water. What happens?

Why It Works:

When liquid in the cup is lower than the bend of the straw, it won’t spill. As soon as liquid is higher than the bend of the straw, the filled side of the straw will spill over the bend.

The straw works as a siphon as gravity pulls the rest of the liquid in the cup through it and out the hole in the bottom. A toilet bowl also has a siphon and works the same way

during a flush.

Bubbling Slime

Gather:

2 containers, 1 large and 1 small
1/2 cup school glue
2 tablespoons baking soda
Several drops of green food coloring
1/4 cup vinegar
2 teaspoons contact lens solution
Baking pan

Note: This is fun to make, but not safe to eat.

1. Mix the glue, baking soda, and food coloring in the large container.

2. Mix the vinegar and the contact lens solution in the small container.

3. Place both containers into a baking pan. Pour the vinegar solution into the glue mixture and stir a few times. The concoction will begin to bubble.

4. If you want to play with the slime, wait for the bubbling to stop. Then mix three more tablespoons of baking soda into the slime to make it easier to handle.

Why It Works:

Vinegar reacts with the baking soda in the glue mixture to create carbon dioxide gas, which then bubbles up out of the solution. Meanwhile, the contact lens solution mixed with

baking soda creates a borate ion, which helps molecules in the glue link together to form slime.

For more activities to keep the kids busy at home, check out the book on Highlights' website.

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