A Pinterest Summer: Slime!!!!

Apparently this year's trends among elementary school students consisted of dabbing, bottle flipping, fidget spinning, and slime.   The dabbing and bottle flipping. . . my son is fully into those things.  The fidget spinners. . . I just can't.  Then the slime?  I noticed that there were lots of slime demos this spring at Michael's and Office Max  and then Ethan's teacher sent him home with a recipe.  We had made it before when the kids were much smaller.  But, because it was popular this year and a new recipe had emerged, we decided to empty some of our glue bottles (because they are going to be super cheap soon!) and make some slime.  We chose two different recipes and they both had wonderful results.  We all loved them!

The day we did this was our first quiet day at home in several days.  It was a much needed day.  In fact, I'm pretty sure Weston stayed half naked all day and Ethan lounged around in sweat pants and a t-shirt (forgetting that it is summer and triple digits!).  It was the perfect day to try out some slime recipes.   I was a little nervous about this recipe because it used contact solution.  I've also had some friends post to Facebook that their attempts hadn't worked.  But, we gave it a shot! 

We gathered our supplies and pulled out the Elmer's Glue recipe for colored slime.  The kids did most of the work and it came out perfect!  We put a bunch of different glitters in ours, too. . . just to make it a bit more fun! 

The second batch we made used Borax, glue, and shaving cream and it came out so fluffy and fun!  Both were huge hits.  The kids even took turns playing with the different slimes.   We used this recipe here.

I thought I might mention a little bit about Borax.  For some reason, people are afraid of it.  Unless you are eating it, the stuff is completely harmless.   I use it in my laundry soap since I make my own.   Don't be too afraid of this recipe.  It is so much fun!  But, in case you are wondering, if you substitute contact solution for the borax, water mixture, it should be fine.  Both of those ingredients are considered the "activator" and should still do the same chemical reaction as it changes it's state.   (there's some science for you!). 

Are you joining us on our Summer Pinterest Challenge?  Don't forget to post to instagram and use the hashtag #oftrbsummerpinchallenge. 

This is the third week of our series.  So far we've done:
Directed Drawing 
Pool Noodle Activities

Do you have any ideas for our next project?  Post in the comments! 
Easy Slime Recipe
From Elmers

Ingredients:
1/2 TBS baking soda
1 TBS contact lens solution
4 oz bottle of glue (full).
food coloring
glitter (optional)

Directions:
 Find a mixing bowl to make your slime in.   Pour all your glue into the bowl and add baking soda.  Stir.  Add food coloring.  Stir some more. Add some glitter if you want*.  Add contact lens solution and continue stirring until the slime forms and it becomes hard to stir with a spoon.  Take it out of the bowl and continue mixing it with your hands.  If it is still sticky, add a drop of solution and continue mixing it with your hands.  Then just play with it!  Store in a ziplock bag or a plastic container with a lid. 

* we used fine glitter and regular sized glitter of all different colors.