Like most homeschoolers, kids, and crafters, we LOVE GLUE!

Would you like to teach your kids what glue is made of? Do you know what monomers and polymers are?

Last week, Captain and I spent some good times learning about adhesives, polymers, cohesion, the history of Elmer’s glue, and, truth be told, got some delightfully sticky messes going on! We did a unit about adhesives that was provided to us by Elmer’s Glue. Right up front I would like to say that I was given “The World of Glue: A cross-curricular investigation of adhesives for grades K-5″, 3 bottle of Elmer’s glues to try, and a copy of the wonderful book, “Too Much Glue!” written by Jason Lefebvre and illustrated by Zac Retz, in exchange for an honest review and to host a giveaway of these products. I can promise that I will only give my honest opinion, and it is easy to do. We really enjoyed the experience together, and I must admit that I learned almost as much as Captain did!

STAY TUNED TO THE END AND BE SURE TO ENTER THIS GIVEAWAY! ~  It is informative and fun! The winner of the random drawing will receive the book “Too Much Glue”, the teaching-unit, and some bottles of glue to mess around with.  Captain went right for the glitter glue and sat down immediately and made a lovely picture for me called “Mountains”:

The teaching toolkit speaks directly to educators in clear, easy to understand terms, and provides history, lab instructions and sheets, Venn diagram templates, evidence logs, a timeline, vocabulary notebook sheet, links etc. Homeschoolers and teachers can photocopy the enclosed student pages and handouts. We simply followed along and learned a lot! We started by reading the story of “Too Much Glue” in which the young character, Matty, goes delightfully bonkers with ALL of the bottles of glue in class one day and turns himself into a giant work of… well… art!

It is a fun book that Captain has had me read several times to her, and then she read it once to me   Kids are invited to use the provided template in the toolkit to create their own “glue-suit” like Matty’s.  Here is Captain’s:

Who wouldn’t want to make a giant one of these to wear?

The labs include comparing various types of adhesives, making your own glue out of simple stuff around the house, creating a polymer “slime” and more. We decided to do a little experimenting of our own and mixed ice cream salt with food coloring in a bowl and then poured in lots of Elmer’s glue. It didn’t turn into the moldable material that we were expecting, but became something even cooler in the end when we glued our groovy concoction into a family mosaic called “The Tree”:

This quality teaching unit, glues, and delightful book were fantastic for this homeschooling family. I believe that it would be a great addition to homeschools, and also very fun for a more traditional classroom setting. Having lots of kids around when doing the activities, letting them partner-up for labs, and make sticky, messy glue-suits together would be very fun! I invite you to enter the giveaway for a chance to try it yourself, for free!

Here are a couple of links to some of Kartwheels favorite projects that use glue:

Make Fun Egyptian Gold Bracelets!

DIY: Cool Art With Aluminum Foil, Glue & Shoe Polish!

Simple, Fluffy Valentine’s Day Hearts!

Thanks so much for sticking around, and a wonderful week to all!

Visit Kartwheels Kids Projects to enter!