Saturday, August 17, 2013

Make Your Own Slime

Kids from the 90's should remember Nickelodeon's Gak that came in a fun little container, slimey, and brightly colored. If you want to have that same slimey experience (but really, kids these days won't have the same experience because Nickelodeon lacks the classics like "Clarissa Explains It All" "Hey Dude" and "What Would You Do") I have just the thing for you: a homemade slime recipe. Best things about this slime recipe is it only uses two ingredients (well, three with the food coloring) and it's just like Gak, just without the new $5 price tag. Follow the recipe for a sticky, fun mess!

Equal parts glue and liquid starch [1 bottle of glue to 1 cup liquid starch + food coloring]

Put the glue, liquid starch, and food coloring in a bowl, let it sit for a few minutes, then work it together.
 I've found that if you try to work the glue and liquid starch together right away, it's a gooey mess. Once worked together a bit, let the slime mixture sit for a few minutes longer.
After this, it should be ready to play with! The slime won't stick to fingers, but it will easily stick to clothes, hair, carpet, and pretty much any type of fabric. A trick I have learned for getting the slime out of things: soak in cold water until the slime begins to crumble and it's easier to pull off of things (or out of hair). Yes, it will still take you a nice long time to get the slime out, but it will come out. We've only had one pair of shorts ruined by the slime, but I forgot to soak them in cold water before washing.
I have the kids play with the slime at the little kids tables in the kitchen to cut down on the mess and chances of stickiness.
While the slime can get messy, it will provide hours of fun for the kids. My kids love to pretend to bake with it with my pots and pans (which it will wipe right off of).

Store slime in Ziploc bags, it should keep for at least a week or longer.