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
Description
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.
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.
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.**
I didn't even know Elmer's made clear glue! How fabulous! I use to be a "science birthday party entertainer" here in Manhattan and have made slime by the gallons with kids. It was pure awesomeness! My advice/reminders for parents is it is only glue, soap (borax), and food coloring. Food coloring is the only thing that might stain, everything else cleans up easily. And Elmer's brand is the only way to go, other brands never worked as well in my many years of slime making.
Lynn, I would definitely use Elmer's glue. I have read that other "school glues" don't have the same composition. I bet that was the problem!
Hi. We just made up a batch with our kids, and all we got was colored soap and glue soup. What did we do wrong?? Please help!! Does it matter if the glue is a different brand than Elmer's?? It's the same kind of white kids' glue that we used. Just not Elmer's.
Please advise. Thanks!
I haven’t made this recipe, but I would imagine that, yes, it does matter if glue is Elmer’s. I’m a teacher, and I speak from experience when I say that there is a reason Elmer’s and Crayola are considered the “name brand” on school supplies. Spend the extra buck. They work much better and last much longer than off-brand.
I ended up with the same thing.. I’m not sure what went wrong but it just wasn’t mixed well so I stuck it in the microwave for 30 seconds(I made a big batch- 16 oz glue plus other ingredients) and then in the blender on the highest setting for about 2 minutes and it worked out fine! Kids are playing with it as I type 🙂
Just realized how old that question was!! Lol
thanks monica,
mine too didn’t work right away, i put it in the microwave for a few seconds to warm it up and i gave it a vigorous stir and it went from a liquid mess to congealed slime!
Just made up a triple batch for my 3 kids as an end-of-summer goodie. Sadly, none of ours solidified like in your pictures. We got the initial clumps, and working them in just made them smaller, but no more materialized. Hmmm, wonder what I did wrong.
Very weird Stephanie, I don’t know!
Did you use washable glue?
That kid has amazing eyes! I love the first picture. 🙂
I've been WAITING for this post – my boys can't wait to make slime!
Ok, THAT is kind of cool.
It was so great to see you this weekend!! I'm sorry we couldn't chat longer. Snotty kids, changing of the guard, and all that jazz. :-p
This is a fun recipe, but I want to caution moms that borax is essentially boric acid and toxic if ingested. Just keep an eye on the kids.
http://www.greenfootsteps.com/borax-information.html
On your link it clearly states…”Borax is NOT Boric Acic” …just an fyi. It is boric acid once mixed with another ingredient.
How totally cool!!!
lololololol
Southworths- it washes up just fine, no worries there.
Just in time for the rainy season!! I'm going to wait to pull this out of my bag of tricks for when the sun has all but permanently gone away and the rain clouds are daily, but I think my little guy will love it. Does it need to be made in a non-food-prep bowl or does it wash up ok?
Oooh fun! We used to make this for the kids at the daycare I used to work at. We had so many parents ask for the recipe, we sent it home in cute little jars with recipe tags.
This stuff is awesome! I remember playing with it as a kid too. Our boys had a blast with it. Fun post Sara
Isn't Borax great? All my little ones love this project, and I love it because it's non-toxic and so very washable. Also, I am hosting a giveaway on both Organic Orgy and Zen of Homekeeping if you and your readers would like to learn about and win a great natural sports drink – pop on over. Thanks, Kitty
Infoxicating Lady- Lucky for you one of the main ingredients is laundry soap! 🙂 It should wash out easily with warm water and a little soap if needed. But it's also not "sticky" so it shouldn't make a mess unless your little spawn actually rubs it into something:)
My kids love playing with this stuff at the OMSI! To have some at home would be a real surprise for them I think 🙂
Just started following your blog. Your kids are adorable! Love the tips and recipe index. Cant wait to try the egg and ham cups for breakfast
Pork for children? Interesting what this world is coming to. I guess we might as well feed them out pet dogs. Anyone know anything about the nature of pigs (they are very intelligent loving creatures like dogs) or their health hazards to out body’s? Oh that’s right, it doesn’t matter unless it tastes yummy 😉
Pigs will literally eat a human….
My kids love making this when friends come over. They stick it in a little cup, fill it to the max and it is fart putty too, lol. Hours of entertainment!
We've gotten it on the carpet and I still have a little mark from it. I wiped as much of it up as I could, let it dry, vacuumed, and that took most of it out. If anyone has a better solution, I'm all ears.
A carpet cleaner once told me that most stains can be removed from carpet by gently scrubbing with an old toothbrush and a solution of warm/hot water and white vinegar, in equal parts. Sometimes it takes a two tries, but so far it has always worked for me.
just found your blog, through another, and can't wait to keep reading. thanks for the giveaway! would love to try the freeze dried fruits.
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InfoxicatingLady, my personal guess would be to use soap and water since this is primarily glue. If you ended up with the washable type of glue, it should work!
The blue goo looks like it has a different texture than the green slime. I can't wait to make this. I'm going to do it today!
I have to ask though, just in case (since I am the proud mother of the Spawn of Satan, the Sister of the Spawn, and the Spawn-ette in training), how would I get it out of clothes, carpet or furniture?
I ask this for the obvious reason that my little darlings would somehow manage to get it into all three, along with hair, the washing machine, the dishwasher, and everything else you can possibly imagine.
It is Glue, water and borax. Water should take it out, but I would strongly suggest that you not use any food coloring as that is what will stain things.
Vinegar gets it out of most things, mayo gets it out of hair!
I made this slime by myself and had so much fun,it got in my carpet and nail polish remover took it out
toothpaste (the white stuff) takes food colouring out of everything 🙂
straight vinegar will take it out! 🙂 good luck!
I got it on a fuzzy blanket, and fingernail polish remover on a washcloth took it straight out 🙂
I have worked in Child Care for 16 years and have made this plenty of times. It comes out of clothes with hot water and hair with worm water and a little combing. I also wanted to say if you can’t find Borax you can use liquid starch.
Hope this helps.
sorry it should say “warm water”.
Hehe, I was trying to imagine what on Earth “worm water” is! 🙂
Haha
Ok
Im glad this stuff worked ?Lol
Worked!
I have to say that this question is the reason I got on google. “How do you get glue and food coloring out of carpet?” A wonderful friend of mine took my kids to her house for a while and made slime with our kids. Not mad at her or anything so don’t get me wrong. My neice (the devil’s spawn, devil being my baby sister) came over and of course did not follow the “only in kitchen rule” and took it to my daughter’s room. Which of course had new carpet and house is rented. So I have a blue stain in the carpet and don’t want it to end up costing me $500 (deposit).
My daughter had a blast making this. We have a science fair this month at school and she is going to make this her submission. P.S. What is with everyone saying their children are spawn from satan/devil? I have a great sense of humor but that seems to be of bad taste. Just sayin
Yeah, well, neither are real creatures so. . . .
acetone nail polish remover. I say this from experience. last night my friends dog got into her slime and spilt it all over their expensive carpet. we google what to do and it said acetone nail polish remover and it worked great!
Thanks so much for this recipe it helped a lot and it worked so thanks so much!!!!
When I get it on carpet, I use hot water right away and it washes it right out! Thanks!
Vinegar
Vinegar helps with it and mayo helps get it out of hair!☺
I always make these SLIMEs!! THEY ARE SO FLUFFY!!
Not messy at all! Perfect for messy kids. So much nicer than play doh. There’s not crumbles or drying up in your carpet.
This is awesome! Btw I am a kid.#SLIMERULES #bestrecipe
just throw your clothes for a wash with some borax and it will be fine
On clothing, if it’s fresh, soak the affected area in vinegar, then wash it normally. Furniture and carpeting are pretty hard and I haven’t quite figured them out yet.
Vinegar