1. No matter what the recipe, you can expect for it not to work out the way you think it will. I learned that small changes lead to big results. Things like white glue vs clear glue make a huge difference. If you are using water in a recipe, the temperature of the water can change the result. Liquid food coloring vs food coloring gel, borax vs liquid starch, adding paint or glitter, the time you spend stirring, the temperature in the room, all can lead to a different result. So, don't get hung up on trying to make the recipe of choice EXACTLY like it shows in whatever you tube video you find, because it just won't happen. Expect the unexpected and you will be fine.
2. Kids don't care if the recipe works or not. It truly doesn't matter to the kids of the slime bonds the way you were expecting, because what they love about the slime is the process. Yes, the slime is fun to play with, but my girl scout helpers loved dumping an entire bottle of glue into a bowl. They loved stirring in food coloring, and squishing the slime in their fingers. Getting messy was the best!
3. Don't be afraid to "Tweak" the recipe to make it work for you. NONE of the original recipes I found gave me the result that I wanted, so I played around with the ingredient amounts. I used hot water vs cold water. I stirred for different lengths of time. In total, while preparing for my girl scouts to make 3 different types of slime for a scout activity, I made over 15 test batches to assure I had a good feel for what I was doing. I was finally able to get a fairly consistent result, and used those recipes for the girls. However, as I learned from lesson one, I anticipated correctly that sizing up the recipes to make a lot of slime in one batch wouldn't exactly give me the result I was expecting. Learning also from lesson two, the girls didn't notice and/or didn't care, and had a fantastic time anyway.
The recipes that I found worked best for me (after tweaking a bit) are:
1. Galaxy Slime From Two-Da-Loo This is a link to the original recipe. Basically the only thing I changed was to start with half of the bottle of glue, then add the rest after adding the starch. The original recipe worked very well though. The biggest change is when I used white school glue to obtain the white slime. The original recipe did not work AT ALL with white school glue. I found I needed a lot more starch to get the same result with the white glue.
· 8 oz bottle clear glue
· Food coloring
· Fine glitter in a variety of colors
· 1/2 cup Liquid starch
Measure 1/2 cup of clear glue into a bowl. Stir in food coloring. Stir in glitter. Add 1/2 cup liquid starch. Stir well. Quickly add the rest of the glue bottle. Work with hands to mix well.
*NOTE* To get full galaxy effect make smaller batches of black, turquoise, violet, and white/silver then mix them all together.
For white Galaxy slime:
· 8 oz bottle white school glue
· Fine glitter
· 3 tablespoons Glow in dark paint (optional)
· 2 cups liquid starch
Measure 1/2 cup white glue into a bowl. Stir in glitter. Add glow in dark paint if desired.
Slowly start adding starch until desired consistency. Work with hands to mix thoroughly.
The original recipe called for
- 1/2 cup clear glue ( I ended up using a full 8 oz)
- 1/2 cup water (I removed)
- 1/2 cup liquid starch
- Spooky elelments
Each time I tried this recipe, I could not get a consistent oozy ball like I saw in the video. So, I removed the water, and added more glue...which basically left me with the same recipe as the galaxy slime above. What I did learn though, is that in this recipe TIME can be a factor. For example, when making the galaxy slime, if you mix the extra glue in right away, it gives you a very smooth gooey slime. However, if you give the starch a lot of time to settle in, and work it until it looks like gooey pumpkin guts, then add the extra glue, it forms a more rubbery, yet still slimy compound VERY much like the slime you can buy in the toy stores. Then the spooky elements squished right in.
My final recipe:
· 8 oz bottle clear glue
· Food coloring
· 1/2 cup liquid starch
· Spooky elements like Spiders or plastic eye balls
Measure 1/2 cup of clear glue into a bowl. Stir in food coloring. Slowly add 1/2 cup liquid starch. Stir with hands until mixture resembles stringy pumpkin guts, then add the rest of the glue bottle. Mix in spooky elements.
3. Glow in the Dark Flubber from Steve Spangler Science
· 1 cup tap water + 1 TBSP Borax dissolved in a small bowl
· 1/2 cup white glue + 1/2 cup water
· 3 tablespoons glow in the dark craft paint
· Food coloring (optional)
Dissolve Borax in 1 cup water and set aside. In a separate bowl mix glue and water, add glow in the dark paint, and food coloring, if desired. Gradually add the borax solution into the paint solution, (our test product only required about 1/2 of the Borax solution). Work with hands to mix thoroughly.
We found that adding food coloring was fun and made it more exciting in the day light, but it GLOWS so much brighter in the dark without the food coloring added. This one was BY FAR the favorite of my girl scout helpers. The flubber is a floppy oozy concoction that will not stretch (it breaks when you try to pull it apart) but if you just let it "ooze" it will melt right through your fingers.
Well, there you have it, my oozy gooey thoughts of the day. I hope this inspires you to slime it up, and please feel free to use my printable recipes in the link below. If you try them out, I would love to hear how they worked for you.
Printable Slime Recipes
