Somethings New

Big O started preschool this week. It's a great school with lots of outdoor time, art, and nutritious food. We're pretty excited about it and he's thrilled. After Day 1, all he could talk about was GAK, even though he kept forgetting what exactly it was called. So we picked up some ingredients (glue) and made it at home.

We used this recipe and mixed it up in the span of about 10 minutes. Truth in blogging: It really should have been about 3 minutes, but it wasn't panning out to be the idyllic home art/science project I had envisioned. My helper was getting too excited and dropped the glue bottle into the bowl, then crushed his graham cracker crumbs everywhere, then spilled his cup of milk. The kids were sent away for some bedroom quiet play, while Mama added the Borax and sealed the deal.

We reconvened for some slimey play. Good times had by all!

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GAK recipe (simplified):

8 oz Elmer's school glue

8 oz water

1/2 cup water

1 teaspoon Borax

couple drops food coloring

Pour the glue in a mixing bowl and refill glue bottle with water. Cap it and shake around to get all the glue and pour the water into the bowl. Add a couple drops of food coloring to the mixing bowl and mix around with a spoon. Put the Borax into the 1/2 cup of water and stir to mix. Add that to the mixing bowl, stirring with the spoon (or switching to your hands as the polymers form). Drop, bounce, push, stamp, and squish to your heart's content. Store in a plastic zip lock bag. Viola!