My children attend a STEAM magnet school. They are quite observant of the world and they are definitely not afraid to try to replicate the activities that they do at school. One such activity is making slime. My rule is that they can make it, but it has to stay outside. The Borax comes out once per week and added to that is glue, water, and food coloring and ta-da, we heve slime.
If you want to find a better way to observe what happens with slime, it may be better to simply buy it from Ryan's Toy World. YouTube is also popular in our house and what better way to entertain my six year old than to have him watch Ryan play with his toys.
Although my six year old enjoys playing with the slime, to some extent, he does not care if he makes it. But my eight year old knows the directions by heart and they are:
"You need Borax and water, glue, food coloring - or if you already have glittery or colored glue, you don't need the food coloring. You only put a little of everything in a bowl or a cup. Then you stir it. And then you play with it. And when it dries, you can play with it a lot, because it's the best thing to do," courtesy of my daughter, Tori.
What do your children insist on making/doing that drives you a little crazy?