A few days ago we went to the library and one of my younger kids chose a book called A Hatful of Seuss – it is a collection of Dr. Seuss stories. One of the stories is Bartholomew and the Oobleck, in which the kingdom in invaded by sticky slime. The kids loved the story, and when we found a recipe for homemade goop that we made up a couple of days later, we decided to rename it oobleck, since it resembled the Seusslike stuff.

This is a fun and easy activity to do with kids. I remember stuff like this being sold in little plastic balls from the vending machines in the front of supermarkets when I was a kid – they probably still do. It’s almost magical for kids to see it created in front of their eyes! The recipe uses just a few common household ingredients – I bought a box of Borax quite a while ago and now have it on hand for recipes like this (it’s useful for laundry, too :)). Here it is:

8 oz white glue
3/4 c. water
food coloring (optional)
1 t. 20 Mule Team Borax
1 – 2 T. water

Combine the first 3 ingredients in one bowl; combine the last two ingredients in a different bowl. Add borax mixture to the glue mixture, stirring until a blob forms. Remove the blob from the mix, add a new batch of borax and repeat until glue mix is gone. Knead all blobs together; store in airtight container (we use ziploc bags).

My kids discovered that they could blow bubbles with it, which was really fun – until my youngest daughter (with hair almost to her waist) had the bubble pop right into her hair. Supposedly this doesn’t stick to anything – but when I saw her, with orange slime entangled throughout her hair on each side of her face, my first thought was to just chop it all off. It looked like a wad of bubble gum that had gotten smooshed in. She looked ready to cry, so I got to work on one side while I told her not to touch the other side – but unfortunately, I was so focused on getting it out that I didn’t realize she was rubbing it in more on the other side as I worked (trying to help get it out). It was a painstaking job, getting it out tiny bit by tiny bit and I finally thought of using a brush to get it out. That worked really well, and I was able to brush it all out pretty quickly (it fell out in lots of crumbles all over the floor).

Now you’ve been cautioned – don’t let your kids eat it or rub it in their hair, and they will have an amazing time with it (and so will you)!

Avivah