Flubber Blubber

Any of you 90's kids ever dream of getting Slimed on the Nickelodeon show? 

http://www.nickkcapress.com/2010KCA/art/

That just looked like so much fun. Why is that? Why is getting slimed so appealing to kids? Maybe it's just something in human nature? The annual mud pit football game at the institute at college was always such a huge hit. And then tubing down a river of mud after the first big monsoon rain...that's always fun! Paint wars. Never been in one, but they look like a blast. There's just something about getting slimed/muddy/paint splattered that is fun. Especially for kids. 

So when Stephanie saw the following idea on Pinterest, she knew she had to try it out for her kids. 

The Original Pin

http://www.growingajeweledrose.com/2012/08/slime-baskets-messy-bath-play.html

That looks just like the Nickelodeon Slime! It makes me want to try it out on my nephews. Stephanie whipped it up, hung the baskets, poured in the slime, and got this:

The Pinstrosity

"The consistency was way off on the slime. Looked like little beads of cellulite. It did not drip and ooze through the baskets. I had to dump it on them. My 3 yr. old still loved it but the 1 yr. old was a bit traumatized. I have made the recipe before with somewhat better results, though it was still not runny enough and also I think you would have to double or triple the recipe that she provides to get the adorable slimy experience her girls seemed to enjoy.  What went wrong?"

After reading through her post and the flubber/slime posts she linked to I'm guessing that the consistency issues were due to too much borax (for a great post on the toxicity of borax, read http://www.crunchybetty.com/getting-to-the-bottom-of-borax-is-it-safe-or-not). The Juggling With Kids post that was linked to in the slime basket post said this: "We followed the flubber recipe that Familylicious posted on their blog, however because the kids could not wait for the flubber to cool down, we ended up adding more borax/hot water to thicken it up quicker.  The reason why Familylicious created this recipe, is so that the flubber would remain at a runny consistency even after it has cooled down.  I will post their recipe in this blog post, however I would recommend you wait till it has completely cooled to do this activity.  If you can't wait, like us however, just mix some more borax with hot water and slowly add it while stirring (watching for the consistency that you want)."

Sadly, I don't know much by way of tips to offer to help the kids enjoy it. Perhaps let the young child watch the older child playing with the slime for a few minutes so they see that it's fun (and then there's always the "I want what they have" tic in the brain between siblings), and then they might get into it a little more. But...I'm not a mom yet, so don't rotten tomato me if that doesn't work.

I'm thinking I seriously need to get my nephews over so I have an excuse to make this. It just looks way too fun. We'll see if I can get the consistency right and if they freak out or not. I may just end up with a tub full of lumpy slime and two freaked out 2-year-olds. Who knows.