Gak!

If you grew up in the 90's, you remember Nickelodeon's Gak! It was a slimey, jiggly, farty-sounding substance that kids would play with for 5-10 minutes before inevitably getting it stuck in the carpet or so full of pet hair that it lost all of its fun properties. Gak! sold for $3-$5 for a small container of the stuff, and had to be replaced often. It's technically still around, but its expense far outweighs its usefulness. Fortunately, if you have kids who would find fart slime amusing, it is really simple to make on your own.

What You Need:

• 1/4 cup water
• 1/4 cup PVA Glue*
• 1 tsp. Borax + 1/8 cup of water

*The glue must be a polyvinyl acetate (PVA) glue in order for the recipe to work. Most standard white glues that you can find in the U.S. are PVA (Elmer's All-Purpose Glue is PVA, and available pretty much everywhere for under $2), as are nearly all basic wood glues.

Worked for me. Cost a buck.

Step 1:

Completely dissolve the Borax in 1/8 cup of water. If it is not completely dissolved, the end result will be gritty instead of slimey. Thoroughly mix the water and glue together with a spoon, then add the dissolved Borax and mix until it starts to thicken. The substance will still be wet to the touch

Step 2:

Knead the substance in your hands until it's a slimey consistency and all of the moisture has been absorbed. The end result is a non-Newtonian fluid. If you let it sit in your palm it will slowly flatten out and run through your fingers, but if you pull it quickly it will break apart.

Looks like something the Michelin Man secreted.

You can add color to it if you want, but it may stain your hands or whatever surfaces it touches, depending what you use to color it (here's a hint: food coloring will absolutely stain everything).

If not ruined within minutes, it can be stored in a refrigerated plastic container. To play with it in the future, just allow it to reach room temperature again, or knead it slowly until warmed up.