This homemade Gak recipe is sure to entertain the kids for hours!! The gooey slime is completely squishable, and making it is half the fun.
Our family loves playing with this slime so much, we even made a glittery version! You can also turn this into an inexpensive but cute gift. For the tutorial go HERE!
Entertain the Kids for Hours!
With it being Summer here in AZ, things are getting pretty HOT, and the kids aren’t as excited to play outside, so I thought it would be fun to make Homemade Gak – aka Slime (It’s something I made all the time with my cousin growing up!)
It is so EASY and literally takes 2 minutes to make, but has provided HOURS (and I’m not even joking!), HOURS of entertainment! Every day, for a week now, the kids have played with this gak for at least an hour each day.
I’ve pulled out plastic cookie cutters and they go to town, and guess what?! I LOVE it! It’s hardly any mess! Here is how you can make DIY Slime/Gak as well!
Ingredient Tips:
- Glue: Just use the good old classic white Elmer’s school glue. Nothing special! Off brands will work just well.
- Borax: Sometimes stores don’t always carry Borax. You can order it on Amazon, or Walmart.com! One box will last a really long time.
- Food Coloring: Gel food coloring definitely works WAY better than the regular liquid food coloring! I got Betty Crocker Neon Gel Food Colors and they worked FAB!! The Neon made it look awesome, but I ended up squeezing almost half the tube into the mixture because I wanted it to be really bright.
How to Make Gak:
PREP. Gather all your supplies together.
GLUE + WATER. Begin by emptying the two bottles of glue into a bowl. Then, fill bottles with warm water and shake. Empty into your bowl.
COLOR. Add some food coloring to the bowl of glue and water, then set aside.**
BORAX. Add ½ cup warm water to your plastic cup. Add 1 tsp. borax to the cup of water and mix until borax dissolves. Then, pour this into your glue bowl and start stirring. You will notice how it starts becoming stringy. Keep mixing by using your hands and squishing the mixture around. A few minutes, it will become pretty gelatinous.
PLAY! Let the kids play with it for a bit and it will become the perfect GOOEY consistency!
Storing Tips
Keep the gak stored in a sealed container or ziploc bag. It should last for at least a couple weeks, but it may start to develop an odor by then.
Activities to Do with Gak
Not only do the kids have fun pulling, kneading, and squishing the gak, you can also use it for activities like:
- Trying to form/sculpt shapes
- Using cookie cutters to cut the gak into shapes and figures
- Cut it with scissors
- Separate it into multiple pieces and practice addition and subtraction
- Create imprints in the gak with plastic bugs, shells, beads, and other objects
A Note of Caution
Although homemade gak is an extremely easy activity for kids to create themselves (my kids who are 10 and older have no problem making this all by themselves), I would be careful with smaller children who may try to eat the gak.
The borax contained in the recipe is a soap used for laundry, and it’s toxic if ingested. So be aware of little ones who may try to eat the slime!
So fun and so easy!! This is seriously the best homemade craft/project I’ve done with the kids in a long time. It doesn’t smell and get all over like other gooey substances and it’s so fun to play with! PLUS, it is super cheap to make!
Gotta love cheap entertainment! 😉
For VIDEO INSTRUCTIONS on how to make slime, watch below:
For more fun kids activities, check out:
Homemade Gak
Ingredients
- 2 4 oz Bottles of Elmer's Glue
- 1 tsp Borax (found in the laundry detergent section of the store)
- Water
- Plastic Cup
- Bowl
- Food Coloring
Instructions
- Gather all your supplies together.
- Begin by emptying the two bottles of glue into a bowl. Then, fill bottles with warm water and shake. Empty into your bowl.
- Add some food coloring to the bowl of glue and water, then set aside.**
- Add ½ cup warm water to your plastic cup. Add 1 tsp. borax to the cup of water and mix until borax dissolves. Then, pour this into your glue bowl and start stirring. You will notice how it starts becoming stringy. Keep mixing by using your hands and squishing the mixture around. A few minutes, it will become pretty gelatinous.
- Let the kids play with it for a bit and it will become the perfect GOOEY consistency!
OH wow. Great idea! Now I know exactly what to do the next time I babysit my god-daughter. She’s a ball of energy full of curiosity so this should keep her distracted for a good while. Thanks for this!
It totally will!! My kids can play with it for hours! Have fun!
Do you refill the glue bottles all the way or just enough to get all the glue out?
I’d say just fill to the top to get the rest of the glue out.
Watch the borax it is causing lung issues in kids their is a kid friendly recipe
My 3 year old and I just made this. She LOVES it and it turned out perfectly.
Can’t wait to try different colors.
It’s already been 20 minutes of play with no signs of slowing down. This tired and pregnant momma thanks you!!
I am so glad she is having fun with it!! We love that stuff! Thank you!
We tried. It failed miserably. =(
Oh, no!! What do you think happened?
We tried. A lot of fun with my kids.
I’m glad you had fun with them!! Thank you!
The slime turned out kind of thick how do you thin it out
I’m not quite sure what happened. I haven’t had that issue before. Did you stir the borax & water before adding it?
mine came out with too much water and rubbery
Did you dissolve the borax real good in the water?
is there a printable version I’m overlooking?
I don’t have it in like a recipe card, like I do recipes. The instructions are just throughout the post. It is super fun to make!!
I’m thinking about making this for a birthday party! Does this store well?? If I let them take some home in jars? Or is it a play one time with and throw away thing??
Not at all!! We like to store them in air tight containers. They last a while. Kids love it!!
Are you filling the two glue bottles completely with water? All the way to the top or just a little water to washout the remaining glue?
All the way 🙂
I can’t wait to make this with my grandchildren who are 4 1/2 and almost 3!
They will have so much fun with it!! It entertains my kids for hours! Have fun!
Love to try new projects at home
Me too!! Hope you try this one! It’s fun!
if you take this on the road. when it gets hot does it melt and get all over the carpet? has anyone had that problem?
It does stick to carpet, so be careful with that. Not sure about it melting. I haven’t brought it on road trips. It should be ok, as long as it’s not left in the car.
My kids enjoyed doing this a few years ago with your tutorial. I’m sharing the link this weekend at Harvest Lane Cottage in my Weekend Reading post. Please let me know if you’d rather I not share the link.
Blessings,
Laura of Harvest Lane Cottage
I’m so glad you and your kids enjoyed the tutorial. You are welcome to share the link. Thanks so much!