How slime-crazed kids made gunk a booming business | Hacker News Reader

How slime-crazed kids made gunk a booming business

theguardian.com

43 pointscamtarn22 comments

Heh, I could have written this story about my 9 year old daughter. Suddenly she wants a gallon of glue and borax along with all kinds of additives and coloring agents. Hey, anything where it gets kids talking about long chain polymerization.

Ditto, except with an 8yo. She’s been making slimes for at least two years and has her own classification system (fluffy slime, butter slime, glitter slime, etc)

It’s at the point that other kids at her school ask her for custom slimes that she makes and sells to them for small $.

Chemistry and entrepreneurship ... could be worse.

Ya, I wouldn't be surprised if it gets some kids into chemistry. Whatever it takes to draw them from video games. (Although, I credit video games for getting me sucked into computer science)

How does an article about slime not mention Nickelodeon?

Right, I grew up in the 80s/90s and slime was a big deal on Nickelodeon. I can remember a kids party in the mid 90s where we even made our own Nickelodeon slime and the slimed each other

What about Gak? This stuff looks like a rip off of it. My parents hated Gak with a passion due to many messes created by my brother an me.

Edit: looks like Gak was Nickelodeon branded.

Yeah, gak or floam once rubbed into fabrics or carpet were pretty much impossible to get out.

I think we had one container of each, and after my mother realized their staining potential, we found them both dried up one day, their lids mysteriously left off.

Of course slime has always existed but this YouTube slime movement is way bigger than anything that was on Nickelodeon. I don't think you realise the magnitude.

As someone that saw that era, I need statistical backup for that assertion.

Purely anecdotal, but I was a kid during the Nickelodeon era. I bought 1 little plastic container of gak at that point. It was neat, but not novel enough to consider a big memory.

My daughter? Had me buy a book for her from some girl that she said is on YouTube who makes slime (the book is about slime), she wants glue and other items for the mixture almost constantly, and if she sees a container of slime at Target that looks cool, that's the toy she wants over anything else.

It'd be one thing if that was just her niche, but damn, her friends are all about it too. It is kind of insane.

I grew up in the Nickelodeon era. Pretty much every child star at the time, got slimed at some point. And Nickelodeon had their own amusement park with slime themed attractions. Every kid whose family had cable seemed to watch Nickelodeon. I came from a poor family without cable and I honestly thought that the Nick shows were a bit too corny and homegrown. So perhaps I noticed the culture more because I was a bit eyerolled by it. But it was a halcyon for sure..a staple of my generation.

Don't forget this was also peak Ghostbusters era

I've made countless batches with my daughter and her friends.

One tip: instead of making a borax solution in hot water which can irritate the skin of some, use a contact-lens solution that has a borate-type preservative it in it. It might cost a little more, but it's a lot safer on skin and easier to handle (comes in it's own bottle with a cap).

Contact lens solution does not contain a borate-type preservative. The active ingredient in contact lens solution is boric acid. There are some contact lens solutions that don't contain boric acid but they won't make slime. You need boric acid to make slime and you can either get it from Borax or contact lens solution.

Borax has been getting negative press recently and I see people recommending contact lens solution as an alternative. But why is contact lens solution safer than Borax, when the active ingredient in both is boric acid?

Yeah, thanks for the clarification.

I believe it's safer because when people make their own boric acid solutions using Borax 20 Mule Team powder and water, they make it way way too strong. Handling the raw powder isn't a great idea for kids either.

Using the contact solution still gives the necessary catalyst, but kids can handle it safely. It may take a bit more volume to make it the reaction happen, but it still happens.

Friend's recent story of her daughter's backpack -- and its contents -- thoroughly slimed after her daughter's purchase from a classmate escaped confinement.

I suggested freezing it and seeing whether the slime would stiffen enough to break off and be brushed or shaken out.

It must be good because they banned it at my kids’ school.

I. Do. Not. Get. This.

It's creative, it's got a sensory angle, and then you add the YouTube factor on top of it and here's where we are.

It's cheaper than a fidget spinner, so I'm all for it.

Some kids find out they like slime. More kids find out they like slime. Lots of kids like slime. Slime sells.

Edit: a word

At least it isn't tide pods..

Kids get obsessed about things, i.e. fads. Now there's youtube which enhances and lengthens these fads, making mini-celebreties out of kids/young adults that can capitalize fast enough.

The fact I just heard about it means it’s near the end. That’s the personal trend I see with kid fads.

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