*originally published 11/9/2015*
We call it Flubber.
There are many names for it on Pinterest: flubber, slime, gak.
Whatever you call it, it’s texture-play fun that little children LOVE.
My kids love to play with it just like playdough, but it always illicits more giggles than the traditional yellow cans of playdough ever do. Maybe it’s because they participate in making flubber …watching it and touching it and squishing it as it turns from separate, liquid ingredients into stretchy, slimy goop.
Flubber can be made with or without borax. We’ve made both and had about the same results. You’ll need:
1 cup glue
food coloring
1 cup liquid starch
OR
1 cup glue
food coloring
1 1/4 cup warm water
2 T Borax
We most recently made the liquid starch recipe, and we just emptied the bottle of glue in our mixing bowl and then used the empty glue container as our “measuring cup” since it’s equal parts used of both glue and liquid starch. Although the recipe calls for equal parts, we found that using a little less liquid starch than glue makes for a less sticky end product, so we only filled the glue bottle up about 2/3 of the way full.
First, pour your entire glue bottle into the mixing bowl. This alone is entertainment for kids who are always told “that’s enough” when using glue! To hear “dump the WHOLE bottle in” is where the fun begins!
Next, add a drop or two of food coloring. Use a plastic spoon to mix in the food coloring and avoid stained fingers!
Then, mix in either your liquid starch or the water + borax mixture to your colored glue. This step can be started with the plastic spoon, but you’ll then want to start using your fingers to incorporate the liquidy starch or borax water into the glue.
Keep mixing for a few minutes in the bowl until it gets to a slimy, stretchy consistency.
Once it gets nice and stretchy, you’re ready to play!
TIPS:
Besides all the fun that’s to be had with just your hands, play dough toys and kitchen tools are also fun with flubber.
Try:
- a plastic pipe as a roller
- a pizza cutter
- knife/fork
- cookie cutters
We store the flubber in a plastic, zippered bag or in a tupperware container. It seems to be even better (less wet and more pliable) on the second day. We keep flubber for a while and pull it out again and again to play with it, but it’s easy to make, and making it is really as much fun as playing with the finished product, so I try to keep the ingredients on hand so we can make it whenever a flubber-making-urge strikes. A bottle of liquid starch costs about $3 and makes MANY batches of flubber. We buy glue bottles during back to school sales and keep a stash on hand.
“What sunshine is to flowers, smiles are to humanity. These are but trifles, to be sure; but scattered along life’s pathway, the good they do is inconceivable.” -Joseph Addison, 1672-1719