It seems like there’s always some sort of DIY craft fad that kids are going through. Let me think back to some that have passed through our house. Duct Tape. Let’s make duct tape wallets, pencil cases, bracelets, duct tape accessories for our dolls. Let’s use a whole roll of duct tape to cover a box to hold all of our duct tape! Let’s put it on furniture legs, pets! Let’s cover everything in duct tape. Then there was the rubber band phase. Bracelets, key chains, necklaces, you name it. I remember the little Sculpey clay phase that still gets reignited in our house occasionally. The kind that is baked in the oven to harden. Let’s make little clay magnets (that are too heavy to actually stay on the fridge, let alone hold any paper or precious artwork in place), miniature food for our Barbies and American Girl Dolls, random shapes that seem to stay on the kitchen counter for months that are sooooo important, but yet have no real home in the house.
Then there was the slime. The dreaded slime. There were videos made of how to make this stuff, demonstrations done at school for mini economy, texture variations mastered, colors perfected and named like they were going to be selling it in stores.
At first, I thought it wasn’t so bad. Hey, they were getting along for the most part. They were being creative and working together. They were dreaming (and scheming). They were going to make millions selling this stuff at school! 😉 They’d save up their money to buy gallons of glue, special add ins like glitter and beads. They had a little area down in the basement to create their product and all was well, until that slime kept showing up around the house. It would be left on furniture to “air out” which would then eat the finish off that precious piece of furniture and leave me screaming, “No more slime!” They’d finish the gallon of glue and I’d say “No more!” But then, they’d find their way back in to the slime world. They’d beg for me to buy just one more bottle and then they’d be done. Slime junkies is what they became! I’d go down to the basement slime factory and little tiny styrofoam beads were all over the place, food coloring staining the table and every washcloth and towel they used to “clean up” this slime mess. Of course it was always the best, newest, whitest towel they would choose for cleaning up this colorful mess. And I bet you can guess what they were storing this precious slime in . . . oh that’s right, you guessed it. All my good plastic storage containers were now stained and no longer usable with the tinge of food coloring and the scent of shaving cream. Measuring cups and spoons disappeared and I found them down in the slime factory, coated with all kinds of fun stuff to scrape off.
On another occasion, their little sweat shop was shut down after I found the basement bathroom covered in glitter (of course from the slime factory). It looked like a unicorn had a wild frat party and then proceeded to vomit pink sparkles all over the bathroom floor. It would only be fitting that the glitter was also all over my six-year-old’s hair too. Do you know how fun it is to wash glitter out of hair and scalp? After that episode, I shut down their slime factory and refused to be their supplier. Then, they hit up grandma without me knowing and get a little more goods to keep their dream alive and create even more slime concoctions. Just when I thought I’d thrown it all out, I’d find more of the stuff in baggies and you guessed it – containers.
I’m not even going to bother posting the recipe here, because when those little curious monsters do a search for the recipe, I don’t want this post to give them any information. There’s more than enough YouTube videos and Pinterest Posts all about how to make slime. This is merely a rant post. This is just my little vent and a warning to fellow parents: if your kids haven’t joined the slime wagon yet. Don’t let them hitch a ride. Just say NO!
clickinmyheels 