Little Explorers: It’s Slime Time

So who knew slime was a ‘thing’? There’s a cult of slime spreading through senior schools up and down the country so why not get the preschoolers involved too? Squirting slime through your fingers is a wonderful sensory experience. There are lots of recipes online but most use Borax, which isn’t available in the UK. Here’s a recipe which uses liquid starch instead. We’ve also seen ones which use contact lens solution!

We think the best kind of slime has to be green, but of course you can choose any colour you like! Adding glitter for extra sparkle is not obligatory, but it is hard to resist…

You will need:

• Laundry starch
• Hot water
• 120ml school glue – clear if possible
• Liquid watercolours
• Glitter
• Plastic containers

Ask your Little Explorers to squirt around 120ml of school glue into your bowl. If you can find clear school glue instead of the traditional white, it will make your slime less opaque. Dash in a few drops of liquid watercolour paint to create the depth of colour you prefer and stir in thoroughly.

In a separate container, mix two tablespoons of hot water with four teaspoons of the laundry starch powder – keep stirring until it is fully dissolved and looks like milk.

Then carefully measure six teaspoons of this liquefied starch into the glue, and a healthy dusting of glitter. Mix well and it will gradually start to transmogrify into slime! It’s pretty disgusting. Now plunge your hands in there right up to your wrists and knead it like bread dough. There’s no point holding back. It’s really quite therapeutic. Keep going until it is stretchy enough to be pulled around without snapping. If you need to make it less sticky, add starch solution. If you need to make it more stretchy, add glue.

You can keep your slime in an airtight container for months!

Expert Explorers: Apparently squidging slime triggers something called ‘autonomous sensory meridian response’ or ASMR for short. That’s the tingles you might feel down the back of your neck or scalp when you do particular and repetitive relaxing activities. These can include having your hair cut or wrapping up presents. It’s a peculiar new phenomenon and explains why so many stressed out teenagers are watching videos of slime online!