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Ella, Gentry and Kate |
Ella and Kate wanted a play date this week. They both love to do crafts, so they dressed paper dolls with real fabric and made magical monster slime. Gentry (Kate's younger sister), hung out with us while her mom ran an errand.
MAGICAL MONSTER SLIME
Ingredients:
1 teaspoon Borax powder
1 1/2 c. water, divided
4 oz. (or 1/2 cup) Elmer's glue--we used clear glue, but you can also use the white.
food coloring (*update: readers said they had trouble when using blue food coloring. I'd choose a different color.)
glitter (the secret ingredient that makes it magical!)
Fill a small bowl (or measuring cup if you have two) with 1 cup of water and add 1 teaspoon of Borax powder. Mix until the Borax is dissolved and set aside.
Pour glue into a medium mixing bowl and add 1/2 cup of water.
Spend five minutes arguing about what color the slime should be. (Notice each girl has a different color food coloring?)
Once it's decided, add about four drops of food coloring to the glue mixture.
Now add the Borax mixture to the glue mixture and watch it begin to solidify--cool!
Stick your hands in and and start mixing it all up. The more hands the better.
Giggle at how "freaked out" you are by how it feels!
Pour out the excess water and knead the mixture until it becomes more firm and dry.
When you're done playing with it, store in a Ziplock bag or other air tight container. We used 2 oz. portion containers (also called souffles) I had left from this Halloween play dough project. You can find them at larger party supply stores or I've seen them on Amazon.com. They've also had them at Costco in the past. The cups and lids usually come separate, so be sure to check before ordering or purchasing.
My friend Mykel (also Kate and Gentry's mom), is making monster slime with the kids in Kate's class at their Halloween party. Cool mom, huh?! She's even going to wear a witches hat and cast a spell over it to turn it to slime. :) Fun stuff.
Hope you have a magical Halloween too.
***Update: If you have concerns about the use of Borax, I found this informative post very helpful.
Where did you get the glitter?? I have been looking in all the wrong places and finding tiny jars for a lot of money.
ReplyDeleteThe dollar store!
DeleteI found it at Walmart in the art section. It's a pretty big bottle. It was about $3.
ReplyDeleteMust say.. I adore these girls! Can I have a copy of the b/w? They had so much fun thanks for inviting them!
ReplyDeleteHow much did this make? I want to make this for my son's monster theme birthday party.
ReplyDeleteWhat a fun idea, Bethany! With the 1 1/2 cups of water and the 1/2 cup of glue, I'm thinking it makes about 2 cups a batch.
ReplyDeleteWalmart has the tiny cups with lids in the plastic cup section.
ReplyDeleteWalmart has the tiny cups with lids in the plastic cup section.
ReplyDeleteSo cool. My name is Gentry also. I have never met anyone with my name.
ReplyDeleteWhat is the borax powder
ReplyDeleteIt's a cleaner. I've seen it in the laundry section.
ReplyDeleteTo MyKel - I love the idea of doing this for a school party. I'd love to do it at my son's party. When it comes to creativity, I'm lacking. Could you email me your "spell"?
ReplyDeletemtolman2@yahoo.com
Thank you!
Is the borax essential? Could it be substituted with something else? Borax is toxic and in my opinion, unsafe to put in something children would play with. Just a concern... Here is an article on the toxicity of borax http://www.magicalchildhood.com/articles/borax.htm
ReplyDeleteI would love to make the slime with a substitute instead, if there is one.
Actually the article you have posted has false information. Borax is not the same as Boric acid. Borax is actually a salt of Boric acid and doesn't become Boric acid unless it is able to react with an acid such as Hydrochloric acid. Now Im not saying whether it is toxic or not, but if you are going to post a website to back up your claim, you might want to make sure the information is correct.
DeleteThanks for bringing this concern to my attention. I wasn't aware of the controversy over the use of Borax. I did research it and found this informative post helpful.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.crunchybetty.com/getting-to-the-bottom-of-borax-is-it-safe-or-not
Am I the only one struggling to get it to work with BLUE food coloring??
ReplyDeleteI can use all the other colors except for my son's favorite one of all :(
I used blue & it worked perfectly!
DeleteThat is strange. I wonder why. What does it do?
ReplyDeleteLove the red head's hair! She's perfect for Brave's Merida!! Going to buy items to make slime!
ReplyDeleteAnother slime is using elmers white glue (not sure about clear) and liquid starch. Cheap and less toxic.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Jake. I love this option. Anyone have the "recipe"?
ReplyDeletedoes it have to be Elmers ? any specific type of glue ? we dont have Elmers in Australia.
ReplyDeleteI've also seen it called white glue or school glue.
DeleteI think the 1 cup of water with the borax was too much.....maybe cut back 1/4 of a cup. But other wise it was awesome my girls loved it!
ReplyDeleteI used a tealish blue it is also my daughter's fav color and it turned out super pretty and it is still staining our hands lol, I used the wilton food coloring!
ReplyDeleteWe just used the McCormick brand and as you can see by the photos, had no problem with staining. Thanks for the heads up!
DeleteI think the secret is using clear glue!! I made it for my 4 year old boy today with white Elmer's, and even though I put about 30 drops of green in it, it's still pastel colored. The silver glitter ended up just looking like white flecks. My boy wasn't so sure about putting his hands in it, but now he's making it 'toot'!
ReplyDeleteGood to know, Kate. Yep, the girls thought it was hilarious to make it toot.
DeleteThank you for the tutorial! We just made our 2nd batch. Made for my daughter's cheer leading team as little fun Halloween gifts. The first we used white glue and yep; lots of food coloring and it will be pastel. The clear glue is for true color to also let the glitter shine through! We made orange for her team colors which go along with the fall season! Will link you to my blog when I post it! Thanks again love it!
ReplyDeleteWas going to try the white glue this time for Ella's class, but with both you and Kate saying it doesn't work as well, I'm sticking with the clear. Thanks, girls. Love the idea of doing it in school colors for the cheerleaders!
DeleteI'm making this ahead of time for a Halloween party. If I put it in 2 oz. cups, how many batches do you think I'll need?
ReplyDeleteWe filled six of the 2 oz. cups per batch.
DeleteLove the idea, I am going to do this for my sons class!! Could you send me that witches spell!? jillhansen79@gmail.com
ReplyDeleteThanks!!
Kim... made this today for our preschool activity and the kids LOVED it!! (also used it as our sceince activity for the day).
ReplyDeleteThanks for posting such awesome directions... we LOVE it!!!
xoxox
MR
did the kids help with this? I am wanting to do it for my 1st graders class as a craft project. I am concerned with them making a big mess AND did you make a batch for each child or 1 batch and split it up with 6 kids??? thank you so much, in advance, for your reply.
Deletethe clear glue shows the color soooo much better. have you ever used the elmers glue that is already colored with glitter in it? looks like you would only have to put in water and borex.
ReplyDeleteI was looking at it the other day and thinking the same thing. I'll have to try it.
DeleteYou can use liquid starch instead of borax, just Google slime made with starch.
ReplyDeleteThey made a good team work they do search engine optimization, these children will play dough green.
ReplyDeleteWish I would have read all the comments....I have my left hand in a batch of blue that just isn't thickening up...boo
ReplyDeleteI had fun this afternoon with my 18yr old and 12 yr old son making this (of course, not with glitter). We mixed up the measurements of the water in 1 batch and it made more slime and it was slimier. We did blue and it turned out fine, but we were using white glue not the clear glue maybe it makes a difference.
ReplyDeleteI'm having trouble with mine seperating after leaving it out for a few hours. Poured off water and left overnight and this morning it was still slimy and lots of water on top. Is it possible I mixed it wrong or fudged the measurements? Has this happened to you? Used white glue and green gel foodcoloring...thinking I might need to go buy some clear glue and try again...
ReplyDeleteI've used both white and clear glue and had no problem. I wonder if it's the brand. I've always used Elmer's.
DeleteTried this today - worked great! My babysitter thought I was the coolest mom in the world to do this for my kids and let them go wild with it in the bathtub right before bath time. This stuff was so much fun I was almost late for my meeting because I just wanted to keep playing with it. Thanks for sharing - this was awesome!
ReplyDeleteMy daughter and I made this day and had a blast playing with it! We got out a container of googly eyes and made slime monsters...thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteLOVE the googly eye idea!
Deleteaaaaaaarg!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I FREAKING LOVE THIS!!!! used my last bit of glue and made a freak load.... and i dont even have kids! made pink and purple ones !!!!!!!!! I love this thank u!
ReplyDeleteLOL!
DeleteI needed something for my son's 5th birthday for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle "ooze" to give out as party gifts. This was perfect! Thanks for the glitter tip!
ReplyDeleteOh my goodness, this is the BEST idea! TMNT have been around forever. My married boys LOVED them when they were very young. :)
DeleteI also used this for my kids' teenage mutant ninja turtle party! Ooze! :)
DeleteFor a large group we pre-made up sandwich bags with the glue and gave the leaders the liquid solution with measuring spoon and had helpers offering the food coloring. Then everyone can have choice of color and also less mess in the beginning because they were instructed to close the bag and massage until it comes together.
ReplyDeleteYea! This was just the tip I needed. My 6-year-old and I made this today (with white glue) and it was very messy in the early stages...fun, but messy. I was hoping to pull it off for her b-day party, but didn't want all the other parents mad at me!
DeleteAwesome idea Linda, I am the library director and we have been trying to come up with things for the kids BESIDES candy to hand out and do with them and this is a brilliant idea!!
DeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteWhere did you find the borax?
ReplyDeleteIn the laundry section. I got mine at Walmart.
Deletein he laundry part of the store
ReplyDeleteWe used colored glittered Elmer's glue and it cut down some of the steps and saved us money. If you can find it, it's great stuff and the colors turned out great. Thanks so much for posting this, my kiddos loved it and we just saw Monsters University so this was fun for them to pretend to be monsters with their goo ;)
ReplyDeleteI just made this to use as "Mutant Ooze" for my daughter's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles themed party. It turned out awesome! I used both the clear and the white glue. I found the clear glue made a firmer goo and the white made a slightly more gooey product. Thanks so much, I'm sure it will be a hit. :)
ReplyDeleteYou can use white glue and glow powder to make it glow in the dark...don't use food coloring or it will over power the glow powder and it wont glow as well.
ReplyDeleteWhere did you find the glow powder? Add this to the kids making some on Halloween when they come to trick or treat at the library would be awesome!!
DeleteIf we make it a couple of days ahead of time to give away for Halloween, will it stay moist in the little containers? We want to make it on Monday for Halloween on Thursday, just to give an idea of timeframe.
ReplyDeletethe blue works just fine
ReplyDeleteI'm making this with my class today. We read your blog, and they are super excited. They can't wait to make it and feel it! Thanks for the recipe and instructions. =)
ReplyDeleteThe experiment was a success
ReplyDeleteA quick piece of information: Elmer's is a polymer, a long chain of identical molecules. The borax causes the polymer to crosslink, changing its behavior. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/bring-science-home-playing-with-polymers/
ReplyDeleteI just tried this with my girls, after adding the 2 mixtures together I noticed not all the water was absorbed did I do something wrong? we ended up pouring the rest of the water out.
ReplyDeleteOver all it turned out pretty cool
My daughter and I made this with Elmers classic glitter glue, and it turned out sticky :( Any advice?
ReplyDeleteHey I read your blogs, the recipes are superb and very easy to understand. I can easily make it at home. Now i didn't need to buy it from slime shops
ReplyDeleteHalloween is a special ocation for making slime, I hope you enjoy it.
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