With the sweltering heat that has been plaguing us lately, my daughter and I decided to keep cool indoors this week. However, you can only stay indoors with kids for so long before you both go bonkers. I needed something to keep her attention and entertain her during the boring afternoons indoors. So, I finally decided it was time to try some of my favorite pins from Pinterest that I’ve been hoarding.
I never realized how many recipes for homemade playdough or gooey slime I had been saving to my Pinterest boards. I figured it was now or never to give these recipes a try. This week, I chose six recipes to test. A few of them made a big mess and didn’t even turn out like expected. Therefore, I decided I’d save you the trouble and let you know which ones we had success with and which ones we didn’t.
The first recipe we tested was Frozen Slime. This slime recipe used a bottled of Elmer’s blue glitter glue and liquid starch. The suggestion was to place the glue and starch in the refrigerator overnight and mix it together the next morning. We did that, but the consistency was never like what was pictured. Instead of throwing it away, I decided to put the slime in a quart size bag and create a squishy bag for my daughter to play with. She really enjoyed it this way and loved that it kept her hands clean. You could also add a few small toys to create a mini “I Spy” bag.
The second recipe we tested wasFairy Dough. The fairy dough was a huge success. This was made with 1 cup of conditioner (we used V05 kiwi lime scented from the Dollar Tree) and 2 ½ cups of cornstarch. We had fun taking turns mixing and kneading the dough. We even added turquoise food coloring and lots of glitter to make it sparkle. This turned out to be one of our favorite recipes. It smelled good, looked pretty and made our hands super soft.
The third recipe we tested was Foam Dough. If I had made this dough first, I would have stopped and never tried a homemade dough recipe ever again! It made the biggest mess and it never turned out no matter what I tried. It was made with shaving cream and cornstarch. I thought it would turn out like the previous recipe (Fairy Dough) since the ingredients were similar. I tried adding more cornstarch and shaving cream like the recipe suggested, but it was either too dry or too sticky. I would have kept trying, but my daughter was insistent that it wasn’t working and she didn’t enjoy her hands being covered in a big white, sticky and doughy mess. Unless you feel confident enough to give it a try yourself, save yourself the headache and mess, and make the Fairy Dough instead.
The fourth recipe we tested was Dish Soap Silly Putty. This was made with corn starch and dish soap. It mixed up well and appeared to have the right consistency, but when I picked it up, it stuck to my hands. I couldn’t get it off my hands until I washed them. Again, this recipe may have needed some adjustments to the amount of cornstarch and dish soap. It may also work better with a different brand of dish soap (I used the blue Dawn dish soap).
The fifth recipe we tested was Homemade Flubber. This was made with 2 bottles of Elmer’s Washable School Glue White, ½ c. room temperature water, ½ c. liquid starch, and food coloring. As I was making this I didn’t think it would turn out, but I was wrong! This turned out to be the coolest and squishiest thing we have ever made. We spent over an hour playing with it. We stretched it, squeezed it, twisted it and even made bubbles with it. To make a bubble, we placed a small ball of flubber on the end of a straw and blew until a flubber bubble appeared!
The sixth and final recipe we tested was Rainbow Slime. This was made with 2 bottles of Elmer’s Clear Glue and 1 ¼ c. liquid starch. I added the liquid starch to the glue, but could never achieve the correct consistency like shown in the recipe photo. I wasn’t too worried because my daughter thought it was the coolest thing ever. I divided the slime into 4 bowls and added food coloring and glitter to each. We made yellow, green, blue and red. I was expecting it to be more like the previous recipe (homemade flubber). Nonetheless, it was a lot of squishy fun and my daughter enjoyed every minute of it.
Overall, if I had to rate the recipes with 5 stars being the best, I would definitely give the Fairy Dough and the Homemade Flubber5+ stars. I wish the slime recipes would have turned out better. One thing I noticed was that both slime recipes used clear glue. I wonder if maybe the formula for the clear glue has changed over the years, which would explain why the slime recipes didn’t turn out. If I make a slime recipe again, I will look for a recipe that uses white glue instead of clear glue. I hope that you find a recipe that you like and try it with your kids. My daughter and I had a blast making these and I know you will too!
