How to Make Slime for Kids and 11 Gooey Crafts for Kids

1. Gather your supplies. All you'll need to get to goo fun started is a mixing bowl, spoon, glue, water, food coloring, and borax. If you don't want to use borax, you can also use liquid starch or laundry detergent.

2. Mix materials together. In the mixing bowl, mix together the glue, food coloring, and water until the dye is evenly distributed.

3. Add the borax. Slowly and carefully add borax to the glue mixture. This step may need adult supervision.

4. Knead mixture with hands. Once the goo is thoroughly mixed together, use your hands to knead and stir until it becomes less sticky.

5. Drain water. Don't worry if there's leftover water at the bottom of your bowl. This won't affect the final product of your goo, and you can just pour it down your sink.

6. Enjoy! Making slime is that simple. Now, you can pick from the following crafts and get the kids' slime adventure started.

Are the kids ready to have some ooey gooey fun? Once you've mastered the above instructions, you'll be a slime-making master. Here, we've even included for you and the kids some of our favorite goo, slime, and oobleck crafts that the kids are bound to love.

Did you know that in February 2017, Elmer’s grew sales 9%? That’s because kids all across the country went crazy for ooey, gooey, slimy fun!

Even though slime recipes have been around for years, colorfully gooey photos on social media made kids want to give it a try for themselves. Craft stores couldn’t even keep up with the sudden demand for glue, and many parents had to cart their kids to three or four stores before they could even get their hands on the sticky stuff! In response, Elmer’s made plans to increase production on their White School Glue.

This isn’t the first time that kids have been obsessing over slime – but it is the first time they’ve been popularly making the substance themselves! Back in the 1990s, children were watching shows on Nickelodeon like Double Dare, Figure It Out, and Slime Time Live where contestants were routinely “slimed” on air. Kids also bought the Nickelodeon-branded “Gak,” which let them play with the gooey stuff themselves.

Who would have thought that slime would make its way back into the homes of the next generation of kids?
 

With any new craze – especially when kids are involved – comes the fear of repercussions. As more and more children began making slime, parents began to ask questions like, “Is slime bad for your skin?” and even wondered, “Does slime cause cancer?”

Parents even panic as they hear stories of children getting third-degree burns on their hands from making her homemade slime recipe every day for more than a month.

One family practitioner at the University of Pennsylvania says that the real harm comes from kids wanting to taste their gooey creations. As long as it isn’t ingested, low amounts of borax shouldn’t bother kids’ skin.

Another expert, toxicologist Jason Hack, agrees. He says that slime recipes calling for borax usually do so in small quantities, which won’t be harmful unless ingested.

If you are worried about borax harming your child’s skin, dermatologist Rajani Katta recommends diluting it a bit before you hand it off to your son or daughter. She also suggests checking hands for cuts, scrapes, eczema, dermatitis, and inflammation before you get down and slimy.

Also, be sure not to make slime too often or play with it too long. Give your skin a break every now and then!

If your child does ingest slime with borax, you should call the American Association of Poison Control at 800-222-1222 immediately.