Goo!

I'm OBSESSED with alphabet books!  I love them, I collect them, and I'm always on the look out for new ones.  Last week at the library I found this one:

It is such a cute alphabet book with great "comic-book" illustrations!  My three-year-old son LOVED it and we've read it so much he has it pretty much memorized!  One of his favorite "heros" from the book is Goo Girl:

who, you can see by the picture, attacks villains with goo!  He was fascinated with the idea of goo, so I decided to make some.  I remember making slime in one of my Elementary Education classes, so I googled the recipe and we made us some goo!!  

It is REALLY easy and only uses Elmer's school glue, water, borax, and a little food coloring.  The glue and borax have a chemical reaction and a sort of polymer forms.  (I found a great video that show how to make it, if you want to watch CLICK HERE)  You can use white or clear school glue, we used white.  [My son really wanted red goo but unfortunately the white glue made the concoction pink.  Clear glue would have given us the red we wanted.  Oh well, maybe next time.  Just keep in mind the white glue will tint your goo when you make it.]  Zach was completely fascinated with the properties of the goo and loved pressing his hand print into the blob and watching it ooze away.  It looks messy, but I promise it is really clean and leaves no traces of goo on your hands while playing.  Goo isn't just for the little ones either.  I had family at my house yesterday and all the kids, especially the eight-year-old, couldn't keep their hands off the stuff.  It is also a great activity for kids who are into science and is a great way to introduce and explore science concepts.  And, of course, let's not forget what a fabulous sensory activity this is because it is so fun to explore with hands (lots of oozing).  If you want to add even more education, compare and contrast the Goo's properties with similar substances like play dough or silly putty.  Comparing and contrasting is one of the strongest teaching tools you can use to enhance learning and create connections of information in the brain!  So go get your Goo on!!   

Here's the recipe and instructions:

Mix 1/2 cup glue (about 1 bottle) with 1/2 cup water.  Add food coloring if you choose.

In a separate bowl, mix 1 tsp. Borax with 1 cup water.

Mix the two solutions together.  Pull out the "slime" and begin playing.  

*Don't worry about extra water in the bowl, you can just pour it down the sink.  Any mess can easily be cleaned up with water!

*One recipe I read suggested to just let the two mixtures sit for one minute with no mixing.  My goo ended up a little tough, I think from mixing it too much, so this may eliminate that problem!