Slime Is Back! And Here's How You Can Make Your Own At Home

Every year, there's a new must-have children's toy at Christmas. When I was growing up, it was the inimitable Furby. This bizarre creature was the top of just about every kid's list in the late nineties and provided hours of entertainment with its bright eyes and robotic interactions. And despite the fact that tech has advanced a lot since then, it turns out that tastes have got simpler.

So what's the must-have children's toy of Christmas 2018? Slime. Yup. Kids these days just can't get enough of it, and unlike the majority of other popular toys on the market, it's not going to set you back a pretty penny. In fact, you can make it yourself.

While slime, admittedly, won't be doing the soft furnishings in your home any favors, we all want to please our kids at Christmas, and it's a lot less worrying than the potential trouble that youngsters could get into on, say, an iPad or a cell phone.

As adults, the appeal of slime is probably lost to most of us, but writing as someone who had a penchant for it as I kid, I can reveal that there was something endlessly fun about its consistency, the colors it's available in, and, of course, its ick factor.

Credit: Children's Hospital of Wisconsin

But don't take my word for it. Twelve-year-old Eliza Griffin said, "I love slime because it's so entertaining. Both making it and playing with it is so fun. It just never gets boring."

It's not just younger kids who like slime, either. Thanks to social media, which is littered with accounts dedicated to the craze, even teenagers like it too. Eliza's older sister, 15-year-old Minna Griffin, said, "It's very therapeutic and satisfying to play with and the videos are so nice and relaxing to watch."

Credit: thebestideasforkids.com

And since there are so many types of slime on the market, per se, TheBestIdeasForKids.com shared their slightly more unusual form of it to make for or with your kids this Christmas: fluffy slime - which, in a nutshell, is slime with added shaving cream.

Credit: thebestideasforkids.com

So what do you need to make it slime this Christmas (see what I did there?). Well, here's the full ingredients list:

Ingredients

Per batch: 

- 2/3 cup of Elmer's White Glue - Do not substitute this glue with a diffferent brand as it could cause the recipie to fail. 

- 1/2 teaspoon Baking Soda

- 1/4 Cup Water

- 2-3 cups Shaving Cream – Do not use shaving gel as an altnerative. 

- 1.5 Tablespoons Contact Lens Solution -  *Important: the brand you chose must contain boric acid and sodium borate as ingredients. These are the chemicals that interact with the glue to make the slime. The recommended solutions are Renu fresh or Equate brand.

- Liquid Food Coloring – It's up to you (or your kids) what colors you use.

1. Add white glue to a bowl

Credit: thebestideasforkids.com

The first step to making slime is adding glue to a bowl. As the picture above demonstrates, you don't want to add too much.

2. Mix the glue with water and baking soda

Credit: thebestideasforkids.com

Now you're getting closer to giving your kids hours of endless entertainment. Speaking of whom, why not have them help you in the creation process? (Just be sure they wash their hands before and after!)

3. Add shaving cream to your mixture

Credit: thebestideasforkids.com

Add the shaving cream into the mix. The more shaving cream you add, the fluffier it will be. Although, you may need to add more contact lens solution if you make it with three cups.

4. Add food coloring

Credit: thebestideasforkids.com

Now you can finally mix up your ingredients.

5. And finally, add contact solution

Credit: thebestideasforkids.com

Once again, it's super important to make sure you've got the right ingredients at this point. If slime doesn't form, it's because your brand of contact lens solution doesn't contain boric acid and sodium borate.

To get just the right consistency, we recommend adding in one tablespoon, kneading the mixture for five minutes, and then add in another half spoon after you've been kneading it for a reasonable amount of time.

Credit: thebestideasforkids.com

Don't panic if your slime is incredibly sticky while you're doing this - it's supposed to be.

The first tablespoon of contact lens solution is what allows you to knead the mixture, and it's the last half tablespoon that reduces its sticky consistency.

Credit: thebestideasforkids.com

And how do you get such colorful slime like the stuff that's pictured above? Simply repeat the process and voilà!

However, it's worth noting that slime mixes just like clay, and if you create all three colors above, there's a chance that your slime could turn grey.

Credit: Little Bins for Little Hands

Unfortunately, however, slime doesn't last forever, but in an airtight container, it should last for around the week - or, as you're likely hoping, through the holidays! (But inevitably, we all know it's going to end up trodden in the carpet. The things we do to put a smile on our kids' faces, eh?)

Who knows? Maybe they'll your kids will get creative with their slime and turn it into a "slimetree" like the one pictured above!