Gak Recipe
Last week I got the call from the school that my oldest son wasn’t feeling well. The nurse said he was complaining about a stomach ache so baby and I headed out to the school to pick him up. After he came home and rested for a while he realized that life at home can be pretty boring during the day when all of your playmates, aka brothers, are at school. We had found a fun Science book for kids at the library so he started perusing the pages and came upon a homemade Gak recipe.
We had all of the ingredients on hand so we decided to give it a try.
Homemade Gak Recipe
What you need:
- 2 paper/plastic cups
- 1/2 tsp borax
- 1/2 C water
- 1 Tbls white glue
- Food coloring (optional)
Step 1: Pour water into one of the cups and dissolve the Borax by stirring.
Step 2: Pour the white glue into the other cup and add about 4 drops of food coloring. Food coloring is totally optional and it is a bit messy so you have been warned. 😉 Mix the two together well.
Step 3: Add 1 Tbls of the borax solution to the glue and stir with a stick or spoon.
Step 4: Take the mixture out and knead it around in your hands until it is fully mixed together. It will look really weird at first but will eventually mix all the way together.
Once it is thoroughly mixed then you’ve got GAK!!
This recipe makes enough for one person to play with and would work great for a classroom or just your kids at home. If you want to make a bigger batch, just double, triple or quadruple the recipe.
The science behind Gak: White glue is made up of millions of polymers (plastic molecules). When you mix it with water the polymers slide around and allow the glue to flow. When you add Borax solution to the glue, the polymers change into a net-like structure and they get tangled up, giving Gak that jelly like feel and make it so you can bed, stretch and even bounce it.
For more simple science projects check out:
Simple Science: Growing Crystals
I love this! Mostly because I keep all those ingredients on hand so there is no need to go to the store.
We did this in our classroom today! Linked back to you on our blog. Thanks for sharing this with us! Found it on Pinterest.