Tuesday, February 12, 2013

155) Gak


The week before last we had a lovely family bug. Not the kind were you are so sick you can't do anything but the kind were you really don't feel great and it lasts a long time. Both are annoying, but this last kind made for a very long week. Both girls had 5-6 days of fever, headache, cough and runny nose, enough to keep us at home. However with a good dose of Tylenol to take the fever down the both felt good enough to play and needed something to do. So we did lots of dress-up, watched lots of movies and played lots and lot of Gak. I had read about Gak multiple times before and it always looked so fun. we for some reason just never got around to trying it. Now that I know it provides hours of fun play and it so simple to make it will probably become a staple in our house.


There are lots and lots of recipes floating around the Internet but the one I used came from a site called Lil' Luna. The recipe called for two bottles of white glue (8oz) , 1 teaspoon of borax, food coloring and some water (roughly 8 oz.)
We made two batches so each of the girls could have their own, although after a few days the two batches merged together to form one pinkish color. We started by pouring the glue into two bowls. I usually buy the gallon size jugs of glue, it's an old habit from my art teacher days. So we just measured out 4 oz of glue for each bowl. In the directions I read they then filled each empty bottle of glue with water, shook it around a little and poured the water into the bowl. Since we didn't use glue bottles I estimated we would need 8 oz of water, and that was probably too much. You would probably be better of with 5-6 oz of water. Although honestly it didn't mess up our gak we just had a little extra liquid we dumped out. The girls then selected the color they wanted and added 5-10 drops of food coloring. Finally we added one teaspoon of borax (which you can get in the laundry detergent aisle of most stores.) Once we had all the ingrediants together the girls started stirring, first with spoons and then with their hands. Within just a few seconds the mixture started to form a ball and with just a little more mixing we had Gak! We took the ball out of the bowl and dumped the remaining liquid, then kneaded the ball a little just to get rid of any extra moisture. After that the Gak was ready. 



The consistency is something that is hard to describe, the best I can come up with is flubber. It stretches and melts, but it can also hold a shape and you can gut it with scissors. The girls have played with the gak almost everyday for over a week now. Sometimes for just a little bit but sometimes for a very long time. They like to pretend that they are hosting their own cooking show. We have used our play dough tools to play but also have found that just plastic utensils, cups and bowls are fun for Gak. The Gak seems to store well in a plastic bag, although I am not sure how long it is good for. But I figure whenever it seems done, it is so easy to make we can just start another batch.

9 comments:

  1. I've been wanting to make this for awhile and just might do it! Who would have thought to cut it with scissors? Wacky material, to say the least! Glad you're all better...too bad we don't live closer. We had the same thing it sounds like, so we could have hung out!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Katherine! I hope you guys try it soon, I imagine your boys would love it and could get their trucks in the mix:) I saw the scissors thing somewhere online, but that was the most fascinating to me too! It is a shame we don't live closer! I hope everyone at your house is feeling better!

      Delete
    2. Thanks!! We're healthy! This week has been craft-free, though, with lots of grandparents action. I'm ready for next week to make some art supplies and get messy. :-)

      Delete
  2. I love this material. Have your girls figured out that it won't stick to metal or glass? We always added in marbles as an extra fun element in my preschool classroom. It's good for a while-keep it in the fridge and it won't get moldy for up to a month! Feel better.
    ~Julia(BMS LiS)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Julia! We didn't try the metal or glass yet but that might be an experiment for this afternoon! and the marbles sound awesome we just inherited a bunch so we will have to give that a try too! Say hi to everyone at the LiS for us:)

      Delete
  3. I made this with my kids a while back---July? August?---and my kids are still playing with it! I thought it would have gone bad or lost its consistency, but no, it's still going strong, and we're just storing it in a plastic bag in the playroom. The kids love it!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh good that is a long time!!I wasn't sure how long it would last but I am glad to hear it has lasted that long! and that your kids are still playing with it:)

      Delete