Lesson Idea | Fun With Adhesives

This K-2 classroom activity helps students explore what makes adhesives sticky through hands-on experimentation. Students work in teams to solve a real-world problem, creating homemade glue for an art project using flour and water. Through observing, measuring, recording, and testing their glue mixtures, they learn about the properties of matter, teamwork, and problem-solving in science and engineering contexts.

Standards

• PS1.A: Structure and Properties of Matter
• 2-PS1-1: Different kinds of matter exist and many of them can be either solid or liquid, depending on temperature. Matter can be described and classified by its observable properties.
• 2-PS1-2: Different properties are suited to different purposes. (2-PS1-3)
• 2-PS1-3: A great variety of objects can be built from a small set of pieces.
• PS1.B: Chemical Reactions
• 2-PS1-4: Heating or cooling a substance may cause changes that can be observed.
ETS1.A: Defining and Delimiting an Engineering Problem
• K-2-ETS1-1:
A situation that people want to change or create can be approached as a problem to be solved through engineering. Such problems may have acceptable solutions. (secondary to KPS2-2)
Asking questions, making observations, and gathering information are helpful in thinking about problems. (secondary to K-ESS3-2)
Before beginning to design a solution, it is important to clearly understand the problem.
• ETS1.C: Optimizing the Design Solution
• K-2-ETS1-1: Because there is always more than one possible solution to a problem, it is useful to compare and test designs. (secondary to 2-ESS2-1)