Since Eliza arrived, I’ve been a little afraid to go out. It’s a little easier on me that Caleb is in school and the kids I do have at home are girls. But it’s still three against one. And with having to nurse Eliza, it’s hard to keep a handle on the other two if we were out at a park or the aquarium.

I’ve been hoping that I’ll naturally get used to having so many kids. And I’m still hoping.

Since I’m feeling a little guilty about not taking the girls outside, I’ve been trying to do more kid crafts with them. One can play with dolls, play-doh and lite brite for only so long. The other day we painted ants. The girls used their fingers to paint three circles in a row and I drew the legs and antenna.

Well, that was the plan anyway. They ended up just painting the entire paper… and table… and their clothes. That was fun.

Then I decided it would be super fun to make Gak. Caleb was really excited about. I was a little surprised that he didn’t mind that we were going to make it without him. He just wanted to play with it.

Here are the ingredients and the recipe we used:

• 2 – 4oz. bottles of glue
• 1 tsp Borax (I got this at WalMart in the laundry detergent section)
• 1/2 cup warm water
• food coloring

Dump the glue in a bowl. Fill both bottles with warm water, shake and dump into the bowl with glue. Mix in the coloring. Dissolve borax into 1/2 cup warm water. Mix borax into glue mixture. Easy peasy.

Charlotte didn’t seem to care. Ana loved pouring everything into the bowl. It was actually fun and it made me feel like a good mommy.

But when we got to the mixing part and I told her she could mix it with her hands and it would be “SO MUCH FUN!!”.

To which she said, “Ewwww gross!! No, you touch it mommy.”

To which I said, “Ewww gross. No, you stir it with a spoon.” And so she did.

But eventually I did have to mix it with my hands and it wasn’t bad. At first it was really watery and I thought I did something wrong, but eventually it became solid.

Doesn’t Ana look so impressed?

Well anyway, Caleb was excited that we had made it, even if it turned out pink, not red.

He played with it for a while. Not sure how long since I had to nurse the baby, fold laundry and cook dinner.

It’s nice that you can store it in a plastic zip bag and it’ll supposedly stay fresher longer than homemade play-doh, of which I’m not a big fan.

Then after I was picking up the living after the kid’s bedtime, I found little drops of Gak all over the carpet. Ok, well there were only three spots, but it was so hard to get out, it seemed like it was all over. I couldn’t get it all off, but the good thing is that the carpet is so trashed I didn’t really get that upset about it. Just one of those eye-roll-while-sighing moments.

So, the verdict is that I’m glad we made it, but I’m pretty sure it won’t be something we do often… or ever again. I’m sure there are lots more funner things to do.

Have you made Gak with your kids? How’d it go?

What is your favorite craft project to do with your kids?

What messy craft project do your kids love but makes you cringe?

Are you afraid to go out in public with your kids?

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