I first re-encountered slime volunteering at a youth summer camp last year --it was hands down our most popular item at the arts & crafts area and this was with tweens and teens. You may immediately have flashbacks to elementary school science experiments with liquid starch and white glue, but this trendy version of slime takes it to the next level! Read more about the 2016-present trend here. Librarians across the United States have already joined in and offered very popular DIY slime programs at their libraries. There's even a slime store that opened in Hawaii of all places earlier this spring!

However, you don't have to have do fancy, social media-worthy slime or spend a lot of money to run a slime program at your library. It can be inexpensive with minimal mess and still tons of fun --here's one way how!

The Recipe:

There are so many slime recipes out there online and in books --but beware! Many recipes call for 4 to 8oz. of glue (one glue bottle). For this library program, I decided the point was more to give our patrons the experience and give them the information they need to make more at home. I scaled down the recipe to only use 1/4 cup (2 oz.) of glue which helped cut down on cost and still gave participants a nice handful of slime to play with and take home. If you've done your research, you'll notice that there are three primary activators used to make slime: diluted borax, liquid starch, or contact solution/baking soda. I didn't get to break down the cost of using one over the other, but I chose the contact solution because of convenience and accessibility. We used 9oz. Solo cups and chopsticks to mix, then put the slime into snack size ziplocks to take home.

Ingredients: 

• 1/4 cup (2 oz.) Clear PVA Glue
• 1/8 tsp. Baking Soda
• 1 & 1/2 tsp. Saline Solution or Contact Solution (must contain boric acid to work)
• 1/8 tsp. Glitter (silver or gold to look like stars, or your choice)
• 1 drop of Food Coloring (blue, purple, or other dark colors work well for that outer space feel)
• 1 Snack Size Zip-Top Bag or an Airtight Container
• A Container/Cup to mix in & Chopstick or Stirring Utensil

Directions:

1. Add the glue, baking soda, solution, glitter, and food color into a cup or container and mix together for 5 minutes or until the slime begins to pull together and away from the dish.
2. Remove the slime and knead it with your hands until no longer sticky. You may need to add a few more drops of saline/contact solution.
3. After playing, store at room temperature in a zip-top bag or airtight container. Please take your slime home to play with and do not open it in the library.

Definitely test out and be familiar with your recipe and the slime making process before you run your program. It's a lot of fun, but the majority of your time during the program will be letting people know when they're ready to go to the kneading stage, letting them know they need to keep stirring, or going around adding a bit more activator to people's slime.

Minimizing the Mess:

Slime by its nature and part of the appeal is that it is messy, gooey fun! However, we want to stay on the good side of our custodial staff and keep the library as mess free as possible, right? There are several things I did to minimize the chance to messes and for the most part it succeeded:

• Limit the amount of participants in your program: We had an RSVP requirement and walk ins only if space allowed. The amount of participants depends on how much your space can accommodate, how much staff/volunteers you have to assist you. I ran three 1/2 hour back-to-back sessions with one other staff member assisting, so we allowed 15 participants per session. We also required that all children under 10 had an assisting adult caregiver to participate which helped out a lot!
• Work in a non-carpeted area if possible: Our library has a small inner courtyard/lanai area covered in concrete. If you only have a carpeted space to work on I highly suggest covering the ground with plastic sheeting. I also covered all the tables with plastic tablecloths so that kids could dump their slime on it and knead on the table as well. I was able to wipe them down with a damp towel afterwards to re-use. I also had wet wipes, paper towels, and a tub of water for really sticky hands.
• Pre-measure ingredients: I researched many different library slime workshops and decided that although it is educational and beneficial for kids to use measuring tools, it would be too messy and too much wait time in between (I wasn't going to buy that many bottles of glue or measuring tools). Again, this program was to give participants the experience of making slime and they would get a handout sheet so they could make more at home. Fortunately with the assistance of three teen student helpers, it took the four of us no more than an hour to pre-measure 45 cups with everything added minus the coloring, which we let the kids choose during the program (but an adult staff member added to their slime).
• Limit the ingredients or choices: I bought food coloring in a set of 8, but only brought out three (pink, blue, and green) for the this slime program. Even though I had a lot of glitter, we just pre-measured silver glitter in everyone's cups beforehand. I did keep 5 cups without glitter in case there was anyone who didn't want glitter, but it ended up being a non-issue this time.

How It Went:

It was REALLY tight to run the program in 30 minute sessions … I used a 10 minute buffer to sign in the next group (so everyone really had 20 minutes to make their slime). I originally planned this to help out staff (a librarian and assistant off desk/unavailable for only 1 ½ hours rather than 3 hours) but I think the best way to do this program would be 1 hour:

• 10 minutes for folks to show up, sign in, fill out photo release forms, add walk-ins/wait list for no shows.
• 5 minutes to brief people on instructions and safety. (Most of this I pulled from the handout/booklist I made, which we gave to each participant.) It's super important to go over safety such as washing hands before and after playing with slime, not to eat it, keep slime out of reach from pets and younger siblings/babies, etc.
• 30 minutes to make/play with slime.
• 15 minutes for time to clean up, usher people out (in kindness), and set up for next session.
  

It also was a very cost effective program breaking down to about $1.75 USD per participant. I spent around $75 total for the ingredients, plastic cups, chopsticks, ziplock bags, table coverings, wet wipes, vinegar, and measuring tools --other than having to buy another gallon of glue, and more cups, I have all the ingredients I need on hand, which brings the price down more if  I run the program again!

Most importantly, as you can tell from the photos, it was a lot of fun! Feel free to contact me for more info and a huge thanks to all the other library system staff who shared with me their slime program experiences when I was putting together my program. I had over 60 people attend this slime program and I'm excited to be starting my every-other-month "Slime Club" this September! Next up: sand slime!

Is slime popular with the younger crowd in your area?  What do you think about slime?  Would you run a slime program at your library if you were a librarian?