Move Over Slime: It’s DIY Booger Time

Gross them out with this disgustingly cool science experiment.

By Melissa Heckscher July 1, 2020

Snot, baby! It’s everywhere. From playgrounds to backpacks across America, the DIY slime craze has taken the under 12 crowd by storm. One-up ’em and make some boogers you can call your own. This gross but cool science experiment will thrill your kiddos! Read on for this easy science project.

What you’ll need:

Borax

Glue gel (we used purple glitter)

Green and/or yellow food coloring

Water

Cups/ spoons/ chopstick for mixing and stirring

Measuring cup and spoon

(Shhhh: This isn’t just a gross recipe; it’s science! Your young chemists will discover that mixing borax solution and glue triggers a real chemical reaction that changes both solutions into a gloriously gross goo.)
Step One: Make a borax solution
Mix two tablespoons of borax with one cup of water and stir until dissolved. Parental note: Borox powder can irritate the lungs if inhaled in powder form. Be sure to keep the box away from kids and do the pouring/scooping for younger tots who might spill.

Step Two: Make a watery glue ooze
Mix three tablespoon of water with two tablespoons of glue (we used this glitter glue, just because we wanted our snot to sparkle) and stir to combine.

Step Three: Make it green
Let your little one be a color mixologist! Drop just enough green and yellow food coloring (a few drops is all you need!) into your ooze to make it a nice, Ogre-green color. But you can also get creative and do red, blue, black or even purple goop.

Step Four: Make the yucky magic happen!
This is the fun part: Add one tablespoon of the borax solution to your glue ooze and stir. Watch as the concoction quickly turns into a gooey clump. Add more borax solution if you want to thin out your ooze; less to keep it more like a jelly-snot. Ours turned out more solid than liquid, but our little chemists were happy with that.

Step Five: Trick your friends!
You’ve made your snot; now, what to do with it? Let your kiddos try these fun tricks:

Put your boogers into a tissue and go, “Ah-choo!” Then, show off the goods to anyone who wants to look.

Leave some stuck across the bathroom door handle.

Break off some pieces and make some yucky chunks to “pick” out of your nose. If you can do this before your kids do, you are going to earn some serious cred.