Leprechaun Catching Goo

Idea by the first ever Guest Wactivity Poster Lyssa Horvath – teacher extraordinaire!! Welcome, Lyssa, and thank you for your awesome, timely Wactivity!

Hey there WhyNotters, have you ever tried to catch a leprechaun? I’ve tried setting traps using boxes and snares, but those sneaky leprechauns are always getting away. This St. Patrick’s Day when the leprechauns come out to cause mischief I’m going use gold coins as bait and try to catch one in some sticky leprechaun goo – how would you catch a leprechaun?

What you need:

~Elmer’s glue

~Borax

~Food coloring or liquid watercolor

~Warm water

-Optional-

Ziploc gallon bags

Directions:

In a bowl (or Ziploc gallon bag as I prefer) mix together one cup of Elmer’s glue and one cup of warm water until well mixed. Mix in a few drops of favorite food coloring or liquid watercolor (or mix colors!) – we mixed yellow and blue (in honor of St. Patrick’s Day).

In a separate cup (or bowl), dissolve 1 teaspoon of Borax in ½ cup of warm water (you can substitute Borax mixture for liquid starch).

Slowly add the Borax mixture to the water, glue, color mixture and stir (or shake and mix if you opted to use a gallon bag). Immediately you’ll feel the long strands of molecules starting to connect, and the mixture firming up. You can add more Borax solution to make your Gak more sticky, or add less for it to be more stringy. Hey, you’re the head slime mixologist – do it your way!

When you’re finished making your Gak, seal it up in a Ziploc bag for safekeeping, or until you are ready to use it to catch a leprechaun!

Variations of Gak include using clear glue and glitter!

Here are some Whynotters at Arch Street Preschool making their gak! We’re going to put it out with some pots of gold and hope a leprechaun gets his feet stuck! Happy hunting!