3 times! This is not something I imagined during the blissful, dreamy days of pregnancy. Ha! But babies grow and toddlers thrive on novelty. To that end, I've been trying to find a recipe that works for us. Third time's a charm! I found a recipe that isn't too...slimy. This is more of a stretchy putty. I like this better in my 1-year-old's hands and the clean up is a breeze!
I found this recipe at ScienceBob.com and modified it just slightly. There are a few recipes for slime at ScienceBob and if you want slimier slime you should check them out! Yes, I had to look up how to spell 'slimier', ha ha.
Necessary ingredients: Borax, white or clear Elmer's glue, food coloring and water.
Let's skip my first attempt for now...
Trial #2: According to ScienceBob, mix a spoonful of Borax with a cup of water. Set aside. Pour half a bottle of glue (my estimate) into another bowl, add 3 Tbs water (good splash) and a dollop of food coloring. Mix well. Now add 1 spoonful of the Borax mixture to the glue and mix. Amazing. This will give you a good, fairly-runny slime.
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| My serious little thinker |
My son did play with this for 10 minutes. Pretty cool. But he basically had to be hosed off afterward and the highchair cover had to be washed. You can see by the oatmeal spots, that this was necessary anyway.
Trial #3: So, I decided to modify this for his (okay, my) needs. I mixed up the remaining half of my glue, with a good splash of water and food coloring. Then I added 3-4 Tbs of the Borax solution (just pour some in).
The nice thing about this is that you can't really add too much Borax solution. I mixed and mixed and some liquid just didn't get absorbed. No problem. The new slime/putty pulled right out.
And this was the best slime yet! It stretched, it drooped, it bounced and squished, and it wasn't runny. It easily rolled into balls and squelched flat. It did not stain hands; it did not cover everything in sight. It was super easy to rub off of skin (rarely needed) and plastic. You still want to keep it from carpet, clothing, etc., but it's pretty great.
The little guy played with this for 15 minutes and was still going when we had to stop him for dinner. Win! I did watch him (and played too!) but he wasn't inclined to taste this batch. He did attempt to eat the runny versions. I guess they felt more like yogurt?
Gift idea: I squished the slime into baby food containers and decoupaged paper to the outside. I'm passing these out to my niece and nephew this week when we visit. Wouldn't these make great party favors for a little one's birthday?
Craft time: 5 minutes for putty
Play time: 20 minutes!
Cost: $2 for glue
Age: 16 months
PS: Trial #1: My first version of slime was the half clear glue, half liquid starch recipe that is all over Pinterest. It was a fail. It was too runny to manipulate. Still, the texture was interesting and Little Man did play with it for 5 minutes or so. Many people love this version, so I blame my starch and not the recipe. ; )
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