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I actually stole this idea from Mr3s current favourite show, Mister Maker. We used soup mix, but you could use lots of different things, dry lentils, rice, couscous, anything that is going to give you a unique texture and that is fun to run through your hands.

I just printed out some basic shapes from the internet. Keep them simple as you’re going to cover up any detail anyway. Smear the area with some craft glue and attach an goggly eye. Then let the kids sprinkle the mix over the rest of the glue area to completely cover it. Gently shake off any excess into the bin. These took about 24 hours to dry. Once fully dry, cut out. We created a simple background with some coloured paper and put them in $2 Ikea frames.

Ok, so the school holidays have not quite started here, but this looked like too much fun and I had a fairly light schedule for the day, so we gave it a go. The best part is, unlike normal play dough, it is not going to go bad when stored between uses.

The recipe I followed required Elmers Glitter Glue, but after searching everywhere in a 20km radius I was still empty handed. Apparently Elmers is available in Australia now, but from what I can tell it is only the white stuff, and I really wanted the clear version for this project. So I just used non toxic craft glue, added my own glitter and was thankfully able to achieve the results I was after. The recipe came from this delightful blog

Santa Slime Recipe

2 Cups of red glitter glue
1 & 1/2 cups very warm water
A few drops of cinnamon extract or peppermint extract (depending on your favorite holiday scent)
Optional additions- green glitter and extra red glitter

Combine the above ingredients in a bowl

In a separate bowl combine

3/4 teaspoons of borax
1 & 1/3 cups very warm water

Once the ingredients of both bowls are mixed, combine them and mix, the slime will form almost instantly.

– See more at: http://www.growingajeweledrose.com/2013/12/santa-slime-recipe.html#sthash.MROKZyw1.dpuf

As I mixed up the ingredients I found it very hard to believe it needed all that water – but it really did, and then some! Not sure if it was because I used so much glitter or because the make up of the glue I used was different than Elmers, but it turned out really firm, almost like play dough, and certainly didn’t ooze like I anticipated. After I got over the initial disappointment, I figured I could either spend another $11 on glue or try to fix it – had nothing to lose, so I added more water to a section of it in a bowl (which did nothing while cool) and put it in the microwave for 2 minutes. Yes, it worked, the slime took on more water and began to get runnier. I continued to do this in sections, increasing the time in the microwave and the amount of water until I had the desired texture.

The kids have been having heaps of fun with it, even the older 2. We ended up with about 3 litres of slime after adding all the extra water, so plenty to share between the 4 of them. If I make it again using the same glue, I will use twice as much water from the start, because adding some extra borax to thicken will be a lot easier than adding extra water was!