Craft Lab: Glow in the Dark Party

Fun with florescence!

Craft Lab:  Glow in the Dark Party

Supplies:
glow sticks
glow-in-the-dark paint
a blacklight (the florescent, bar-shaped kind, not just a "black" lightbulb)
baking soda
hydrogen peroxide (6% solution, available at beauty supply stores)
yeast
Dawn dish soap
liquid starch (or Borax)
white school glue
vinegar
plastic tubs to catch messes
highlighter pens (especially yellow, orange and pink)
balloons
resealable plastic baggies
plastic or glass bottles with a narrow neck
glass jars with lids
neon colored straws, pipe cleaners, anything, really!
camera with adjustable shutter and aperture settings for long exposure shots
black t-shirts


Instructions and links:
--the five teens that attended this program had a great time experimenting with glow-in-the dark stuff and seeing which projects worked and which ones were less than impressive.

--I regret to report that I forgot to bring my good camera and was therefore completely incapable of photographing most of our finished projects properly, so I'll just include links to the instructions and a few photos and notes as I can provide them.

--the first picture in this post is of glowing "elephant toothpaste." although this project calls for hydrogen peroxide which comes plastered with dire warnings about its toxicity, this was probably our most successful project all day.  We used "glow water" instead of paint and it worked great!

--the next most photogenic project was simply glow vinegar and baking soda. (use the blacklight to make it glow)

 

--in order to have a really dark space to best enjoy these glowing treats, i created a dark bubble using a fan (we happened to have the carpet-drying fans at our branch that day.  the one with the smaller opening was too strong, even on the slowest setting, but the boxy one worked okay), black plastic sheeting and duct tape.  (click this link for full instructions and more photos)

--we also tried glow slime (which worked best if you "charged" the glow paint by holding it near a light source, not just leaving it out in the light-filled room), and glow bubbles (underwhelming, but maybe mostly because we could only see them inside the dark bubble and the fan blew them away immediately)

Other projects I wanted to try, but didn't get to for some reason:
--making glow-in-the-dark t-shirts (buy glow paint for fabric, plus black shirts)
--glow-stick photography
--glowing balloons (with or without the face)
--water bottle glow stick toss

Maybe I'll try some of these projects with toddlers this fall?