How to Make Homemade Slime, Goop and Playdough

As a mother of five I've collected some pretty cool recipes for making slime, goop and playdoughs. I've yet to see a kid who didn't love playing with these homemade recipes. They're all made from simple household ingredients and will provide hours of cheap fun.

Green Slime
Just like the slime in the movie Ghostbusters, this green slime delights kids. It's tough and rubbery but flows like slime. This will stain clothing and carpeting, so best played with outdoors.

2 cups of liquid starch, 2 cups of white glue, green food coloring

Put the white glue in a large mixing bowl. Add the food coloring till you get the color you want. Then slowly add the starch. As you stir, the dough or slime will begin to thicken and pull away from the sides of the bowl. Incorporate all the starch.

Just in time for Halloween!

Homemade Goop
I don't know who invented this, but whomever did, they're chemical geniuses! Don't use cheap white glue, only Elmer's to get the best results. You want your homemade goop to be the goopiest and greatest goop, right! Making this is as much fun as playing with it, so make sure the kids help with this process.

8 oz of Elmer's glue, ¾ c. of water, 1 t. 20 Mule Team Borax, and 1 to 2 T. water

You will make two mixtures. The first is ¾ c. of water, food coloring to color your goop, and 8 oz. of glue. The second mixture is the t. of Borax dissolved in 1 to 2 T. of water. Now comes the chemical process. Take your Borax mix and drop it into the glue mix. You'll see a glob of goop form. Scoop that out and place it in another bowl. Mix up more borax and water and drop it into the glue bowl again. Another glob of goop will form, scoop it out and keep repeating the process until all the glue is formed into goop balls. Begin to knead all the balls of goop into one big ball of goop. It's fun and goopy!

This amazing fun goop costs about .75 cents!

Homemade playdough
There are lots of ways to make homemade playdough but as a homeschool teacher, scout leader and mom of five, this is my favorite. I found the recipe years ago in a booklet called Frugal Fun for Kids by Marinda Babcock. I found the booklet at a garage sale.

2 c. flour, 2 c. water, 1 c. of salt, 4 t. cream of tartar(absolutely necessary!), 2 t. cooking oil, food coloring of choice for each batch. You can add scented oils to make your playdough smell nice if you like.

You mix all the dry ingredients together and add the oil. Then you begin to blend in the water making a smooth dough. In a heavy pan over medium heat, begin to heat the dough. Cook until it pulls away from the side of the pan. Remove from heat and turn out onto a smooth non stick surface. I use a wood cutting board. Knead until it forms a smooth ball of playdough. Keep sealed in plastic bag when not in use. It will last for months! We use to have many colors of this in our frig when the kids were small.

You can save small coffee cans and decorate them to hold your playdough. This is edible as long as the oils you use for scent are edible also. Do check on that if you think your children will put the dough in their mouths. This won't taste good, but it won't make them sick!

Creating fun art projects is easy with homemade playdough and playing with goop and slime is a fun Halloween treat.