Let's talk about the toy beloved by all children - about the slime! A toy with such an unattractive name is a sticky, wetish, jelly-like mass of bright color and odorless. A slime does not mold like plasticine, although it has a certain plasticity, but it adheres very well to surfaces, sliding slowly from them. This ability and a pleasant to the touch texture made this seemingly unremarkable mass one of the most famous inventions in the gaming industry.
History of Handgam
The ancestor of the substance known in the countries of the former USSR under the name "lizun" was an acid-green toy slime, which was released by Slime.
The name "slime" stuck to the slime after the television movie "Ghostbusters" was released. The ghost in whose honor this jelly-shaped toy was named had a similar shape to it.
The beneficial effects of hendgam on child development
Another name for this sensational sticky plasticine is handgam, which in translation means “hand” and “chewing gum”.
Scientists who research handgams claim that playing with it has a beneficial effect on the development of fine motor skills and can serve as a relaxing massage.
So, how can you please a child with such a wonderful toy that develops imagination and motor skills? Of course, you can go and buy it in almost any store, but it’s safer and more interesting to do it yourself.
About how to make a home lizun without sodium tetraborate or with it yourself, and will be discussed in our article.
Handgam safety rules
Before you learn how to make a slime from sodium tetraborate, let's get acquainted with the basic safety rules, as their non-compliance can be fraught with serious health problems:
• Put on an apron (or clothing that is not a pity) and gloves, as you will use dyes during work.
• If you are doing smart plasticine with your child, be careful that glue and borax do not get into his stomach. If these ingredients get inside, rinse and consult a doctor.
• Use utensils for the mixture of ingredients from which you will not eat food after the process.
• The shelf life of a homemade slime can be from a week to two weeks, depending on the ingredients that make up its composition.
• Be sure to wash your hands thoroughly after games.
How to make such a toy with your own hands at home? A slime without or with sodium tetraborate is made approximately the same way, as will be described below in the article. Safety is the same for all methods.
Making smart clay from sodium tetraborate
There are many ways to make handgams on your own, today we will analyze the most common ones.
Sodium tetraborate slime is considered the most durable. To increase its shelf life, strictly follow the manufacturing technology and choose the highest quality materials.
By the way, tetraborate itself is an antiseptic, therefore, if a child drops a lizun, which includes this substance, you can not worry.
You can buy a solution of borax in a pharmacy, in hardware stores, in shops for creativity and even in the construction market.
There are two ways to create a sodium tetraborate handgam — with and without water. In the first case, your slime will turn out to be a little transparent, in the second - more matte.
The method without using water
Materials and ingredients that you will need:
• PVA glue - 1 bottle.
• Sodium tetraborate (aka borax solution), it is better that it is its solution in glycerin - a few drops.
• Food coloring or gouache.
• A container in which you will mix everything.
• Wooden stick.
Cooking method:
• Pour glue into the container (all or only part, depends on how many and what size of slimes you want to receive).
• Constantly stirring the glue with a wooden stick, add 1 drop of borax solution to it until the mixture reaches the desired consistency.
• Add a couple drops of gouache or food coloring and mix thoroughly with rubber gloves in your hands.
Sodium tetraborate slime made according to this recipe can be washed with water if necessary.
The method of using water
Materials that you will need to make a toy such as lizun from sodium tetraborate:
• A glass of cold water.
• PVA glue - 1 bottle.
• Sodium tetraborate (aka borax solution), it is better that it is its solution in glycerin - a few drops.
• Food coloring or gouache.
• A container in which you will mix everything.
• Wooden stick.
Cooking method:
• Mix glue and water in a container at the rate of 1: 1.
• Pour a lot of dye.
• Mix everything thoroughly.
• Add two drops of borax solution and mix to achieve a uniform consistency.
• If the mass turns out to be too liquid, then add a little more sodium tetraborate.
Sodium tetraborate slime is stored in the refrigerator in a bag that does not allow air to pass through. When hardening your home-made "smart" plasticine, add a little water to it.
If you want a clear slime, replace PVA glue with a stationery glue in this recipe.
Lizun, which includes glue and starch
If you think the toy, which includes sodium tetraborate, is unsafe and unsuitable for playing with a child, or you didn’t manage to buy a solution of borax, then your option is a lizun at home without sodium tetraborate.
Materials required to make handgams:
• Liquid starch for washing clothes (if you have not found starch in liquid form, dilute it yourself in a ratio of 1: 3).
• PVA.
• Food coloring or gouache.
• Thick file.
Cooking method:
• Pour 85 ml of liquid starch into a clean, dry file.
• Send a little gouache or a couple of drops of food coloring to the starch.
• Pour 30 ml of PVA glue into the mixture.
• Mash your hands with the mixture in the file, carefully mixing it.
• After most of the composition turns into a thick slippery clot and a little liquid remains at the bottom of the bag, remove the lizun from the bag and remove excess moisture from it with paper or a cloth.
• The slime is ready.
If you see that the slime is too sticky or completely unplastic, then you incorrectly calculated the proportions (in the first case there is an excess of glue in it, in the second - starch).
Remember that in addition to harmless starch, such a toy contains glue, so make sure that the child does not stick it in his mouth.
It is important to know not only how to make a lizun without sodium tetraborate, but also how and how much to store in the subsequent: store it in a closed container at room temperature for no more than a week.
Soda and detergent slime
There are a huge number of ways to create a "smart" plasticine, similar in its properties to the world-famous slime toy.
If your goal is a slime without sodium tetraborate and glue, then we have a couple more options, here is one of them.
Materials and tools you need:
• Dishwashing liquid (like Fairy).
• Baking soda.
• Water.
• Food coloring or gouache.
• Container for mixing ingredients.
• Wooden stick (sushi stick is great).
Cooking method:
• Pour 150 ml of detergent into a container.
• Add 1 tbsp. l soda.
• Mix the ingredients thoroughly.
• Add as much water to the resulting mixture as you need so that the resulting consistency suits you.
• Add a few drops of dye (this item is optional for implementation, because often dishwashing detergent already has a rather bright color that is transmitted to the lick).
Slime without PVA glue and sodium tetraborate is ready. Keep it in the refrigerator.
The longest expired lizun
As you probably already noticed, all of the above-mentioned homemade lizuns have a rather short shelf life (no more than 2 weeks), this is due to the fact that they have almost no preservatives and substances that will protect them from drying out.
If you want to make handgams with a longer shelf life, then we also have such a recipe. The duration of the existence of “smart” plasticine, the manufacturing method of which we will now describe, is from 1 to 2 months.
By the way, for this recipe you will need very few ingredients, and you almost certainly have them at home:
• Transparent shower gel of bright color without granules.
• Transparent shampoo bright color.
• Mixing tank.
• Wooden stick.
Cooking method:
• Pour 150 ml of shampoo into a container.
• Add 150 ml of shower gel to the shampoo.
• Thoroughly and gently mix the components, make sure that no foam forms.
• Put the container with the future lizun in the refrigerator for a day.
Such a slime must be stored in the refrigerator, otherwise it just melts. As in all other cases, make sure that your child does not taste the handgams and wash his hands thoroughly after playing with him.
The safest lizun
If all the above methods do not seem safe and do not inspire confidence in you, but you would like to please your child, then we suggest you make a beautiful and interesting toy (lick) without sodium tetraborate and starch, without shampoo and dishwashing detergent, without glue and detergent .
The shelf life of such a toy is not very long, and it differs markedly from the original in appearance, but it is safe, and you can be sure that nothing will happen to your child, even if he takes the handgam in his mouth.
So, these are the ingredients that you will need to make a safe "smart" plasticine:
• Wheat flour.
• Sieve.
• Hot water.
• Boiling water.
• Container for mixing ingredients.
• Fork or whisk.
• Food coloring (you can even use beet juice or, for example, spinach).
Cooking method:
• Pour 4 cups flour into a previously prepared container, sifting it through a sieve.
• Add half a glass of ice water to the flour.
• Pour half a glass of boiling water there.
• Mix everything as thoroughly as possible, the mixture should be smooth and without lumps.
• Now is the turn of the dye: add a few drops to the mixture and mix again.
• Put your future safe lizun in the refrigerator for 3-4 hours.
The slime is ready, now you can be calm for your child.
other methods
There are many more ways to make slides. Here are some of them: from washing powder, from a solution of borax and dry polyvinyl alcohol (but such handgams need to be boiled), from plasticine and gelatin, magnetic, etc.
In this article, we tried to describe as completely as possible and clearly several completely different, but at the same time very simple methods for making slimes. We hope we were able to answer all your questions.