Most activations ask participants to choose between learning something and having fun. UNSW's Slime Fest at Centennial Park on Sunday 17 August refused that compromise, and the 200 kids who came through the Bearish slime station were better for it.
The event was part of a broader activation organised by UNSW Arts, Design and Architecture, the same faculty that earlier in the year wrapped the UNSW Shuttle Bus to celebrate the School of Art and Design's 50th Anniversary. The bus artwork came from Master's student Jiaying Qian, whose project explores how design can move beyond human authorship by working with biological collaborators, slime mould and spirulina included. That conceptual backdrop gave the day a thematic coherence most community events never achieve: slime wasn't just a crowd-pleaser, it was the whole argument made tangible.
The Bearish Slime Station: Messy by Design
Bearish ran the slime-making station, guiding kids through the process of mixing their own gooey slime while the science behind it was explained alongside the making. The chemistry of polymers and viscosity, explained at a level that lands with a seven-year-old, paired with the immediate, tactile satisfaction of pulling a handful of slime apart and watching it stretch, is a combination that keeps kids engaged in a way that a classroom worksheet never could.
Two hundred kids came through the station across the day. Every single one left messier than they arrived, which in this context was the clearest possible sign of success.
The UNSW Slime Shuttle anchored the event spatially, a wrapped bus that doubled as a visual statement and a destination. Bearish's station sat within that larger ecosystem, contributing the hands-on making experience that turned passive interest into active participation.
Why Science and Creative Activations Belong Together
The instinct to separate science education from creative play is a false distinction that Slime Fest dismantled in the most direct way possible. Jiaying Qian's graduate work makes the same argument at a postgraduate level, that creativity doesn't stop at the boundary of the human, that biological systems can be genuine design partners. For the kids at Centennial Park, that idea landed not as theory but as something they held in their hands, watched behave unexpectedly, and took home in a container.
For event planners at universities, science festivals, and community organisations, this is the model worth studying. A conceptual anchor that connects the intellectual premise of the institution to a physical, participatory activity that any child can access is rare and valuable. Bearish provides the activation infrastructure; the institution provides the meaning behind it.
Outdoor Activations and the Centennial Park Setting
Running a slime station outdoors at Centennial Park added a dimension that an indoor venue can't replicate. The space gave kids room to move, parents room to watch without crowding, and the whole event a relaxed, festival energy that suited the subject matter. Mess is less stressful outside. Curiosity runs more freely when there are no walls.
For organisations planning community outreach events or public science activations, the combination of an outdoor venue and a hands-on Bearish station is a format worth repeating.
