PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — Three parts water, one part glue. Add a little Borax and you have… slime!

It’s one of many New Year’s Day recipes for Carnegie Science Center’s seventh annual “Mess Fest.”

“This is finger painting, and this is sort of art meets science,” says Science Center co-director Ann Metzger.

Metzger says kids learn how to mix pigments to create new color. And, of course, get messy.

“We bring out all the messiest, goopiest experiments from all year round, and put them into one day,” she said. “And that’s what you see here today.”

Co-director Ron Baille joins kids who thrust their hands into a messy mix of Seussian mush called oobleck. He tells his messy cohorts there’s a science behind it.

“I bet you have toys that are rubber and plastic, and those are made of polymers,” he explained.

Education coordinator Michelle Brooks helps kids pack their thin-shelled cargo for the “Egg Drop.” Materials include Styrofoam and bubble wrap.

“The object is to build a structure so that when you drop your egg from our first floor balcony, it survives,” Brooks says. “So you start with a hundred points, and each supply you use deducts from your points. And if your egg ‘drops’ you get zero points. We kind of relate it to astronauts, how astronauts, when they want to go out in space, need to be very well protected. Obviously, there’s a lot of engineering involved, as well.”

Despite judicious use of packing materials, most of the eggs end up scrambled.

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