Gak!

In my never-ending search for fun stuff to do when my two nieces come to stay with me (that is, until they’re teenagers who want nothing to do with their old auntie and only want to text their friends), I found a great project that is simple, inexpensive and fairly un-messy (unlike this one we did last fall). 

To make Gak, all you need is

• Two 4 oz bottles of Elmer’s glue
• 1 tsp Borax (found in laundry detergent section)
• food coloring

Have your two nieces pour the glue into a large bowl.  I'm pretty sure it is impossible for kids not to get glue on their hands when they do this but I'm not sure why.  Then they can fill the empty glue bottles with warm water and shake them (tops on first!!).  Empty the glue-y water into the same bowl. 

Add some food coloring.  (Don’t argue about which color.)

Use lots of color for a brighter result.  I’ve read that neon colors are really fun to use but I didn’t have any of those.  Stir this up and set it aside.

Next, thoroughly dissolve 1 tsp of Borax into ½ cup of warm water.  Pour the warm water/Borax mixture into the glue and start stirring.  This is when the magic happens!

It becomes stringy almost instantly, which is very fun to watch!

Keep mixing using your hands and squishing it around.  After a few minutes of this most excellent fun, it will become firm and a perfect consistency to play with!

This can provide hours of fun (or minutes depending on age)!

A few side notes:  The gak does leave something on your hands – not gluey but just needs to be washed off when you’re done playing.  I had the girls play with it on the counter and in the bowl.  And someone did get some on their t-shirt… I couldn’t scrape it off but with a little Dawn treatment, it washed right out.  I also wouldn’t use gak with kids under 5 in case they just had to taste it.  I don’t know what Elmer’s would do in your tummy but it’s not worth the risk.

This was a really big hit with these 9 and 10 year olds! 

Gak.  Make some soon!