September 13, 2017
Renee Limon
Depending on the ages of the children in your life, slime and putty are words you may not be familiar with. Or they could be the center of everything, with nearly all of your child’s allowance spent on white glue, clear glue, corn starch, baking soda, shaving cream and various other activators and slime add-ins.
Our family falls into that second category. My 13-year old daughter’s obsession has been with us for quite some time. Last year, the only thing she really wanted for her birthday was Crazy Aaron’s Thinking Putty, and thanks to generous friends and family we almost always find her with putty in her hands, stretching and playing with it. In addition, she's made so many DIY slimes that all the small food storage containers have been filled with variously colored, textured and smelling slimes. She even did her science fair project on how different types of glue affect the consistency of slime.
Playing off this year’s theme of Growing Stretching Laughing, Carla has set up a Funny Putty Slime project in our art room for the month of September to help all of us grow, stretch and laugh. Her recipe includes only kid-safe ingredients, and really encourages kids to stretch their slime/putty! Check in with your child’s clinician to see if your child has had a chance to make it yet (and check back here later for the recipe!).
You may be wondering, is slime safe? There was a news story last spring where a young girl burned her hands from DIY slime containing borax. Rest assured that our recipe has only kid-safe ingredients and contains no borax.
You may also be wondering, why are kids so obsessed with this stuff… So I thought I would ask my 13-year-old resident slime expert why she likes slime and putty so much. Here’s what she had to say:
“Well, it’s fun to do and play with. If you create something, you feel accomplished. Fidgeting with slime is nice, like, if you can’t sit still. You can poke and stretch and play with it while you’re paying attention to something else. If I’m stressed, or I don’t want to do something, or I’m nervous about something, I play with putty or slime for a bit and then I come back with a better mindset.”
So there you have it. Slime and/or putty will get your kids to do their homework with a good attitude. Or it might just make them or you laugh. Or grow or stretch. And don’t we all need more of that?
