Make Your Own Slime

Here is a fun project for (outdoor) mixing fun. I have posted before that Kid Concoctions are my favorite recipes. They made these recipes from basic household ingredients for their own kids, and they always work great.

Years ago, before I had kids, I got the Kid Concoctions book through my donation to PBS. I used it when teaching, and I still use it now with my own kids. At the time, donating to PBS was the only way to get the book, but I noticed this Festival season that the books are now sold through Alex Toys by Amazon. We still made our donation to PBS and got three kits for our donation.

Today we made the slime, which can also be purchased through Amazon for $10:


But for $10, you could buy enough ingredients to make a lot more than three batches of slime for your kids' enjoyment. All it takes is Borax, white glue, water, and food coloring. For small batch, use:

• 3 T. water 
• 1 T. glue
• 2 T. Borax
• few drops of food coloring

Mix together in a cup or ziploc baggy.**  My preference is to start with a cup, then put into a ziploc baggy.  We also mix stuff like this in our yard.

It starts out very wet:

Stir it for a little bit till it thickens a lot:

At that point, it will only thicken the way you want it if you work it with your hands.  You decide--let the kids get their hands in there and get gloppy, or transfer it to a plastic bag and have them work it inside the zipped up baggy.

If you prefer not to have a giant mess, leave it in the bag till it looks like this.  Yes, it changed colors.  We made two batches today.

At this point, it comes out of the bag nice and clean, and they can just play with it to their heart's content.  It won't get on anything, and it won't stick to hands, floor, or clothes.  Store it in the bag, then throw it away when it stops being fun.  Make more any time.

**What you never see on any of these slime recipes is just how gross and messy this can be.  They say to have the child mix with their hand.  They don't tell you that the child will wipe the slimy glop onto her shirt and pants, and that when it's liquidy it will also blop onto the kitchen floor and be ridiculous to clean up.


This kit for Bubble Paint (which may look familiar) might be worth the price just to get all the ingredients and also ideas for what to do with the projects.



To me, though, the best deal would be this Kid Concoctions book. It cost me a $150 donation 10 years ago, but we're still getting our use from it. You can get it for $7.49 with free Prime shipping from Amazon.  I promise, you will wear this book out.



It's nearing summer break, so I will be shifting focus to fun free or nearly free activities for kids.  If you are new to the blog, you can check out the activities under the SSSS (summer sanity savers series) tag for more ideas.