Homemade Gak.

Well, here we go again. In the northeast or mid-atlantic, we have a few short weeks of next-to-no humidity with cool temps and the occasional breeze that finds it’s way up the leg of my shorts. I’m diggin’ it – ’tis the season.

However, along with that comes rain and much cooler temperatures in the early morning and night – forcing me to find something to do indoors with the kids.

We just finished several weeks of ‘Halloween costume design’ and feel like we pulled it off this past Saturday night! My wife has always been a big ‘DIY/crafter’ and I have to admit that the costumes got me goin’ too.

So… what else is there to do before we totally switch gears and start thinking about Christmas projects?

Inspired by the Halloween holiday, we dug up a really simple, fun project to do with your kids that is guaranteed to keep them from raiding your nightstand for at least an hour. It’s a recipe that was developed by my ancestors that settled here in the mid-1800’s… not really.

We’ve been using this recipe for a few years and for legal purposes, I’m not sure where it came from. Nor can I tell you that it’s safe if ingested, so you’re rolling the dice on that one.

Last week, my wife pulled me aside to talk about ‘sensory play’ and had my full attention until she redirected my selfish husband fantasies and told me that this was for the kids.

So we decided to give SENSORY GAK a whirl with Charlie and his best bud, Dom.

WARNING: It’s the easiest thing in the world to make, and you may never want to buy another tub of Play-Doh or slime for them again.

INGREDIENTS:

• One 4-oz container of Elmer’s Glue. You can use white or clear, your call.
• 3/4 cup water + an additional 1/3 cup Water
• 1 teaspoon of Borax
• Food Coloring
• Glitter

Regardless of the fact that Halloween is still in the air and I thought the boys might want to make, oh, I don’t know, orange or green Gak, they chose Frozen Blue. So there you go. Frozen Blue Sensory Gak it is.

DIRECTIONS:

• Mix Borax with 1/3 cup of warm water, make sure that the Borax completely dissolves. Set aside.

• Empty (completely) the Elmer’s Glue into a metal or glass bowl.

• Add 1 cup of Water. Mix it like hell until it combines completely.
• Add about 4-5 drops of Food Coloring (or more) until you get your desired color.
• Add Glitter. (DON’T DO THIS, MY WIFE MADE ME WRITE IT)
• Slowly pour in your Borax/Water mixture. The Monster Gak will start to be stringy. Stir for awhile until it is completely mixed and not soupy.

• Then use your hands. Mish and mash and the Gak will start to resemble real slime. The more you play with it, the softer it gets (that’s not what she said).

Enjoy.