This substance is super cool!
Your kids (and any nearby adults) will spend hours
squishing, smushing, and stretching it
to discover all its amazing properties!
Here's what you need:
Elmer's glue (4 oz bottle)
Borax (powder found in the laundry aisle)
food coloring
water
Here's what to do:
1. Put 1/2 cup water in a bowl. Pour in the whole bottle of glue and mix together.
2. Add food coloring to make your favorite colors and mix well again.
3. In a separate container (one with a spout for pouring is helpful) heat one cup of water. (I just microwaved it for a minute). Add 1 tbsp of the Borax, and mix well until it dissolves. Add an additional 1/2 teaspoon of Borax to the water and stir until dissolved again. Continue adding 1/2 tsp at a time until no more will dissolve. (I ended up adding 3 or 4 more 1/2 teaspoons).
4. Pour the Borax water into your glue mixture and stir well. It will immediately start to clump together. Continue stirring until you have a glob in the center and liquid around it.
5. Carefully lift out the glob. It'll be really slimy and sticky. Squish it in your hands until it solidifies more. It will lose some of its sliminess and hold its shape more. Pour out the excess liquid. 6. HAVE FUN!!! You and your children will discover all sorts of fun ways to stretch and play with your Gak! If you pull it slowly it'll stretch out. If you pull it apart quickly, it'll break. Set one glob on top of another and watch it "melt" together. Lots of fun!
7. Store your Gak in a covered container or plastic bag. It'll last for a few weeks.
12 comments:
Very neat idea! TFS
OK, this might be tons of fun for a birthday party this weekend! Did it stain clothing or skin?
Jen, it should be fine! The only stage where you'd want to be careful is when you're mixing it so the food coloring or glue doesn't spill. Otherwise, once the Gak is removed from the excess water and you squeeze it a little to get rid of the sliminess, it shouldn't stain or be sticky at all.
Hope this helps! Let me know if you try it.
One more thing... once the Gak is fully formed, consider it like a piece of chewed gum. If it drops on the carpet or clothing, you can pick it right back up and it's fine. However, if it sits there for awhile or gets stepped on or smushed in, it will stick to it.
you are such a martha stewart laura....start your own business already!
OK, so I made this with my boys and they played for hours with it. Then my 4yr old got some on his shorts and quietly changed and threw them in the laundry. Today (one day later) I noticed it and it doesn't seem to come off too easily. Any tips? You think just soaking it will help? Thanks!
Anna said...
OK, so I made this with my boys and they played for hours with it. Then my 4yr old got some on his shorts and quietly changed and threw them in the laundry. Today (one day later) I noticed it and it doesn't seem to come off too easily. Any tips? You think just soaking it will help? Thanks!
Oh no! I would think since it's mostly glue, soaking it in warm, almost hot, water and then rubbing it might work. (That's how I did the glue batik projects I'd posted about.) Good luck.
I love this tutorial! I hope you don't mind that I featured you on my blog:
http://allawesomelinks.blogspot.com/2011/07/make-your-own-gak.html
I made this but it didn't turn out. It was more solid. Instead of stretching it broke apart. I'd say it was more like scrambled eggs. I used a 225ml bottle of glue. Should I have used a different size?
Anon - I also made this and it turned out alot more solid - after reviewing (several times to see what i missed since i thought i read it thoroughly!) i forgot to add the 1/2 cup of water WITH the glue + food coloring. I think that would render alot more pliable gak instead of a silly putty of sorts... :)
thanks for the recipe, now to buy another glue....
Not to tattle but please take a look at this Borax can be very harmful especially to little children.
http://www.magicalchildhood.com/articles/borax.htm
Liquid starch works as well as the borax does...and you don't have to do all of that measuring and mixing! My kids at school LOVED this project!
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