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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.
Are you supposed to have a bunch of excess water in the bowl? I followed all the directions like I was supposed to and I have a glob of stuff swimming in a bunch of water.
Thank you soo much for the gak recipe! That will be perfect for making at my kindergartener’s birthday party!
Hi, I just made this for my 2 year old yesterday and he LOVED it. I’m just wondering how long this is supposed to last. When we finished playing with it I put it in a ziplock bag. When he woke up from his nap he wanted to play with it again so I got it and noticed a large amount of water had seeped out of it. I poured off the excess and we played with it for quite a while. Now the next day about half of it has turned to water. We are playing with the remaining half but I’m wondering is it supposed to last longer?
When I read this I thought it was such a great idea for my 2 year old! but when I tried to make it it turned out very rubbery and hard, I am unable to stretch it like it should be. I was wondering in the recipe it says to add water to the glue bottles and swoosh them and pour out.. So how much water do I pour into the bottles? Maybe that makes a difference?
Helen I believe the recipe says to fill the glue bottles with water, swish around and empty that water into the bowl mix with the glue already in it. That’s what I did and it worked out well.
Great idea!!!.. Santa’s bigger is supper tight this year this is cheap and cool. Thanks.
i love squshie things post more
This is so awesome! Thank you. My kids loved this.
Uh, what if you don’t have Borax? Do you have to use it?
I’m pretty sure it won’t work without borax. There may be other recipes on the web that don’t include it, but I know for sure this one needs it. :/
When I make this, I use equal amounts of glue to liquid starch. Mix it the same way. Works awesome!!
Our gak is now losing water after about 2 months. Is that normal? Can I do something to save it?
This is brilliant! Definitely want to try this….now I just have to figure out what the South African version of Borax is! 🙂
Hey Caddie, II’m South African and made some today – you can get Borax at PnP in a small white and tan container- Robertsons brand – usually in the same place as the washing powders, although I’m sure hardware shops would be able to help you as well… And I’m assuming school glue is the same as wood glue – although ours has a bit of a chemical smell – but I made a huge batch so that might be why!
Did you try it? Did it work? I want to make it but I can’t find Elmers glue in South Africa.
Hey Alain,
I did try it – the chemical smell didn’t go away and the ingredient amounts were way off – I think wood glue is too strong! I’m thinking of trying that Pritt craft glue – it’s also in a little bottle. I haven’t gotten around to it yet – maybe give it a go and let us know?
There’s a shop in the city where I work called Hall’s Adhesives – I’m thinking of popping in there to see what they have too…
Great ideas! thanx.