Buying gifts is fine, but it’s more fun to make them. This year, we decided to make botanical gifts for the adults on our list, and slime kits for the kids.

To make a slime kit, you’ll need:
-glue
-glitter glue (optional)
-Borax laundry detergent
-small plastic sample cups or paper cups (optional)
-food coloring
-jars with lids
-a small plastic bin or shoe box
-plastic spoons
-extra glitter (optional)

Label the jars and fill as follows:

1. Bouncy Ball Mix (fill with glue)
2. Slime Mix (fill with equal parts glue and water, mixed well)
3. Borax detergent (fill with powdered detergent)
4. Cross-Linking Solution (leave empty)
5. optional-Sparkly Bouncy Ball mix (fill with glitter glue)
6. optional-Sparkly Slime Mix (fill with equal parts water and glitter glue, mixed well)

Make an instruction sheet for the kit. (Print out the info below, or copy it onto a card.)

To make slime:

1. Fill Cross-Linking Solution container with warm water. Add about 2 tsp Borax per 1/2 cup water to the container. Mix well. (Don’t worry if all the Borax doesn’t dissolve!)
2. Add a few spoonfuls of Ball Mix or Slime Mix to a small plastic cup or paper cup.
3. Add a drop or two of food coloring to the cup. Stir.
4. Add 3 spoonfuls of the Cross-Linking Solution to your ball mix or slime mix and stir well.
5. If the slime still feels too sticky, add a little more Cross-Linking Solution.
6. Remove your completed slime from the cup.

The Science Behind the Fun:

Glue is a polymer, which is a long chain of molecules linked together, like a chemical chain.  The polymer formed by water and glue is called polyvinyl acetate.

The Borax solution is called a cross-linking substance, and it makes the glue polymer chains stick to each other. Eventually, all the chains are bound together and no more cross-linking solution can be taken up.

To finish the slime kit, fill the plastic bin with the ingredients you put together, including jars of ingredients, instructions, plastic spoons, and mixing cups (optional.)

Slime from Kitchen Science Lab for Kids (Quarry Books)