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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.
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 1/2 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 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 1/2 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!
Notes
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
I am like the worst mom ever, if there is any chance they can make a mess I don’t do it LOL. But a few of those don’t look too messy:)
OMG this looks like so much fun! I am kinda a big fan of borax! It has so many uses! : )
Borax is definitely awesome! I’m just sad we hadn’t made it before. It’s awesome!!
You have very great ideas, I’m glad to stop on your blog and learn so many things about it… I do appreciate this simple but worthy. It motivates me to do the rest effectively…
Too fun! My girls would love this. 🙂 Thanks for sharing…visiting from TT&J!
Thanks, Amanda! I know your girls will love it!! We made pink and purple in the last week (my daughter’s fav colors) so she’s been having a ball with “her” gak. LOL! 😀
I love Gak. When I taught preschool I used to make it all the time for the kids. So far my little one is still putting everything in her mouth so I’m going to have to wait a little while before I give it a try with her.
Yeah, unfortunately I’ve found some in my 1 year olds mouth but the 2 and 4 year old love it! 😀
Oh goodness, I remember gak! Making the funny noises is always a kid favorite. 😉
LOL!!! My kids love the funny noises. And they love when I make bubbles with it pressing it up against my mouth – haha!!
I tried to make this I followed the directions correctly but mine is like a hard ball, it wont stretch, it pulls apart. What dii do wrong? Help please 🙁
*did I* Sorry my keyboard gets stuck on some letters. I really need to start proof reading before posting.
I would just keep working at it until it is smooth… it takes several minutes to work on it. And I’ve made it once or twice where there was excess water. Not sure why I had it that time when I haven’t ever had it before.
Not sure if you will see this, but I just did the same thing tonight. I split the recipe in half to make 2 different colors, one for each kid. The first one came out great, but the second one was a hard ball that we couldn’t do anything with.
Here is what I think I did wrong, I forgot to stir up the food coloring and water into the glue and added the borax. I think I added a little bit too much borax too, so I am going to make sure that I am very careful with that next time, and then make sure I mix everything up good. I was just in a hurry to get the second one done for my son to play with and in the end, my daughter split hers in half to share with her brother(with no prompting from me, so I am happy).
Thanks for the comment, Amber and sorry the second batch didn’t turn out. I would definitely be sure to mix it all up well and use the exact measurements for the borax. Hopefully, that will help next time. PS – So sweet your daughter shared. 🙂
FYI- If you use clear elmers glue (usually right by the normal white kind) it doesn’t take near as much coloring to make it brighter! It works great.
Thanks for the awesome tip, Alicia. I’m going to try that next time we make it. Thanks again!!
you seriously are the cutest mom ever! i LOVE it! i want to make this! fun!
LOL!!! You’re too nice, Kelsey!!! I try to do fun things with the kiddos to help us both stay sane – haha!
this is AWESOME FOR SUMMER TIME! my kids would love it. Thanks for sharing. jen
Thanks, Miss Jen!! You’re so sweet!! Your kiddos will love it! Let me know if you give it a go. 🙂
Lil i love your websit i love playing with the gak thanks alot ;]
ok my kid would love that!