Homemade Gak

If you are a child of the 90s like I am, then you remember Gak as the best creation ever!  Good news!  Gak came back!  I went and bought it only to be let down, though.  It seems like they might have changed the recipe?  It was hard and rubbery instead of stretchy and gooey.  Well the kids had a day off school so we decided to make our own!!  I found the recipe here.

Here's what you'll need:

1. Pour 1/2 cup water into a bowl.  Then add one bottle Elmer's Glue, and stir together.

2. Add food coloring to the water/glue mixture.  Stir.

3. Heat one cup of water in the microwave for 1 minute.  Then add 1 tbsp Borax, and stir until dissolved.  Continue adding Borax about 1/2 tsp. at a time until the Borax no longer dissolves.

4. Add Borax mixture to Elmer's Glue mixture and watch the magic happen!!  The mixture will clump almost immediately.  Stir it quickly, but carefully.  You'll end up with a stretchy, lumpy blob in the center.  This is what you're aiming for!

5. Pour off all the extra liquid down the sink.

Interested in the science behind our gak?  "TheB-OH groups on the borax molecules react with the acetate groups on the glue molecules (relatively long polymer chains) to eliminate acetic acid and form new bonds between the borax and two glue molecules.  The linking of two glue molecules via one borax molecule is called polymer cross-linking and it makes a bigger polymer molecule, which is now less liquid-like and more solid."