September is in full swing and we thought we’d celebrate by doing Back-to-School week! My oldest kiddo just started pre-school and Kate is now the mother to an official kindergartner. This week we’re going to have *five* posts. Hear that? A post every single day of the week you lucky duckies. So make sure to check in! Kate is going to be sharing some great breakfast and school lunch foods (something we’ve gotten tons of requests for) and I’m going to do some really fun kitchen crafts/science projects that are great for entertaining young hands and minds. Which brings me to today’s post.
Do you guys remember this??
I was so obsessed with that stuff and I totally remember the commercials. When I made this homemade version I couldn’t believe that it had the exact same smell. Took me right back to 6th grade!
If you’ve ventured into science fun like this before then you already know that 97% of home projects require the same 2 ingredients. Elmer’s glue and borax. In fact, I’m convinced if I combine them in enough different ways I’m sure to come up with then next earth-shattering invention like velcro, post-it notes or spray cheese.
Start by dissolving a teaspoon of Borax in one cup of water and set it aside.
Now pour the Elmer’s glue in a separate bowl. You can use either clear glue or white glue for this. For this first batch I’m using clear.
Add some water to that glue
and then stir in some food coloring. I think green is quite fitting for slime, don’t you?
Once that’s all stirred up, just pour your Borax mix into the bowl. You will instantly see masses forming in there. Straight out of an alien movie I tell ya. Or a science book. I know there’s some science-y explanation for the magical formation of slime, but I couldn’t tell ya. Something about polymers…man I used to be really awesome at chemistry. Now I just make really awesome cookies. I think cookies are way more useful as an overall life skill.
See? Say it with me: ewwwww! You just want to use your hands at this point and just kind of stir and smoosh and try to get all of the solids.
It will be wet and soft at first but you just have to keep kneading it. The moisture will knead out or absorb (just toss the liquid left in the bowl) and soon you’ll have a nice blob. Normally a finished product resulting in a “blob” is not a good thing, but this is an exception. Love your blob.
I have to say I actually prefer the white glue. I don’t know why, it just seemed to have a nice texture (you know, because I’m such a connoisseur of slimy blobs). This time I enlisted my only favorite helpers. This is a fun project for kids, just supervise and make sure they’re old enough to understand it’s not something to eat.
Older kids can help measure and stir and younger ones can stand and protest that they don’t get to. And then try to eat the science experiment. It’s all about the family fun.
This is their favorite part. Both of my kids said in unison, “Ahhhhh!! There’s something in there!”
This is a good picture of what you’ll get when you first try to grab it. You might think you messed up because it’s so loose. Just keep smooshing!
And soon it will look like this. Nice and smooth and dry to the touch.
It only takes minutes to make and your kids will think you’re awesome. And it will totally keep them busy for at least 3.5 minutes. Hopefully even more if your kids have longer attention spans than mine do.
What kid doesn’t like to squish slimy things?? Even *I* love playing with this stuff!
Homemade Slime
Your kids will have so much fun in the kitchen with this homemade slime!
Ingredients
- 1 teaspoon borax powder
- 1 1/2 C water divided
- 4 oz 1/2 C Elmer's glue, clear or white
- food coloring
Instructions
- Add borax powder to 1 cup of water and stir to dissolve. Set aside. Pour glue into a medium mixing bowl and add 1/2 C water. Add a few drops of food coloring until desired color is reached and then stir to mix glue solution until smooth.
- Pour the borax mixture into the glue mixture and watch the solids start to form. Stir for a few moments and then use your hands to gather the mass. The mixture will be very soft and wet.
- Keep kneading until it firms up and feels dry. Discard excess liquid in bowl. The more you knead and play with the slime the firmer it will become. Store in a ziplock bag or air tight container and the slime will keep indefinitely.
Notes
- *Note: that this is not a recipe for human consumption. It is for play purposes only. Make sure to supervise young children.
Did You Make This Recipe?Snap a picture, and hashtag it #ourbestbites. We love to see your creations on our Instagram @ourbestbites!
Questions & Reviews
My boys and nephew are loving this! Thanks for sharing the good memories.
Thank you! My kids and I had so much fun playing with the slime!
Denise/Nene- not sure on the ounces, but it makes about a palm full :)Maybe a little less than a cup?
About how many ounces does this make?
Made this stuff for my co-op preschool today. It was a hit! At first, I thought it wasn't going to work, but when I actually followed the instructions and made sure ALL the excess liquid was drained (which was more than I expected there to be), it did. It did also help to let it sit for a minute. Very fun!!
I think I figured out the problem with the soupy slime. Our first batch turned out that way because the kids started stirring right as soon as I poured the borax water into the glue mix. The second time we let it sit for a while and everything came together beautifully.
Used this recipe this morning to keep the Grandkids entertained…they were so excited when it all came together…are still playing and chatting happily about the antics of this mysterious medium…thank you for sharing your post…much appreciated…
I just made this with my kids and it is freaking awesome!!! Thank you for posting about it. 🙂
So much fun! My house is full of giggles right now! It took awhile to get my littlest one to touch it, but now she's having a blast! Thanks so much for this recipe! And by the way all I had was a generic brand of glue and it worked just fine.
I came to your blog through Craft gossip, and couldn't be happier! I just LOVE everything, from recipes to slime!
This is exactly what I was going to look up a recipe for. I can't wait to do this "nose picking" booth at our school's spring carnival game. Homemade slime, here we come!!
http://www.carnivalsavers.com/unique_carnival_game_nosepick.html
**Yes, before each child puts their finger up the nose and into the slime we are going to have them use hand sanitizer.**