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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 made this with my 2 year old this morning and it was a big hit. I had to nurse my daughter so I set him in his high chair with a few cookie cutters and let him have at it. Unfortunate I got distracted with my daughter who had a diaper disaster and when I came back the gak had gotten onto his shirt, the fabric cover on the high chair, the chair cushion and the floor. I had no problem removing it from hard surfaces but I think the cushion is ruined (it was old anyway) and I’m concerned about washing the shirt and fabric cover on the high chair. Anyone else have this experience??? We used blue dye, which stained our hands 🙁
Vinegar will disolve it and get it out of almost anything.
Thanks for the tip!
How long does the gal last?
This is great!! I Just made this for my niece and nephew while baby-sitting them and they are LOVING it! Thanks for sharing the recipe. When I was in 6th grade my teacher presented us with this for a science project and I always loved it!
Just made this today after pinning it on Pinterest a couple weeks ago. It works great! We do get a few clingy pieces, but no one seems to mind. I don’t have any food coloring so ours is just plain ol’ white. Thanks so much for sharing the recipe! I can’t wait to pass it on to others. I wrapped mine in plastic wrap, but is there a better way to store it?
I just made this for my daughter to play with and I disappointed with how it stains anything it touches (due to the food coloring). I don’t want to skip out on the color (that’s part of the fun!!!), but I also don’t want my nice couch, clothes, walls, etc. stained to high heaven. I didn’t use the Betty Crocker brand food coloring b/c I already had some McCormick neon coloring. It’s the regular kind of coloring-liquid, not gel.
I did read in the comments about your hubby’s hands getting stained with the pink… that is the color I tried. I will try another color next time (I only had enough glue for one batch) and see, but I was just curious if you’d heard from anyone else about this and found a solution 🙂 Seems strange that it would be a “pink only” thing…
Thanks!!!
Hi Heather! Thanks for the comment. I have no idea why the pink stained. We have made purple, red, green and orange with the neon gel colors and none of those stained – only the hot pink. Still haven’t heard a solution for the colors, but will let you know if I do. Sorry about that. 🙁
I just made it and its a total flop. My hands are green as are grdaughter The stuff is rock solid. Total waste.
I’m so sorry, Sandy. I haven’t had anyone have this problem before. I have made it countless times now and have never had this issue. :/
I let all the daycare kiddos make their own today, it was a huge hit! Even the older kids who get bored easily loved it! Thanks for the wonderful, and inexpensive idea!
This is awesome!! We just made some and it came out great!! Question.. Does it store well? Can you use it a week later or is it a one and done?
Thanks!!
Hi Kristyn- This does store well, btw. I am glad to see you post this. I posted this back in 2009 – link : http://mygratitudeattitudes.blogspot.com/2009/01/making-glurch-creative-play-for-kids.html
And it was amazing how much “crap” I got from people. It was posted on another big kids website too back in 09, and the rude comments were unbelivable.. I even posted the same link as you- Steve Spangler Science. People were very concerned about the Borax. There is the tiniest bit of Borax, which is not as toxic as everyone believes. It is toxic if you pour it in your eye. I personally would be more concerned about the children eating the glue. lol. But in all my years of teaching, and making this with children from preschool to 2nd grade, I have never had a child once try to ingest this. It is a fun “science” project. We use Borax to clean everything at hour house. It is laundry soap, not the stuff you kill bugs with – that is totally different- and I think people get very confused. Sorry for my little “rant” but I just wanted to thank you for the repost. It is a super fun summer activity. It will store for several days also- but usually it is a one time thing at our house. 🙂 Thanks for sharing so much fun stuff! -sharla
Thanks for the note, Sharla! We have made it several times and I have yet to see any of my kids ranging 1 – 4 try to ingest it. We love it and will continue to make it. 🙂