# Princess Snot
> Stir unflavored gelatin into hot colored, scented water, let it start to thicken, then add corn syrup to pull out stretchy, gooey snot strands. Add glitter for pink, sparkly Princess Snot and let kids squish, pull and pinch.
- URL: https://www.funlittles.com/sensory-activities-princess-snot/
- Ages: 3–8 yrs · Difficulty: easy · Mess: high
- Time: prep 10 min, activity 30 min
- Works for: one-on-one, small group
- Skills: sensory-exploration, science, colors, fine-motor, language-development
- Cautions: food-dye, corn, ingestion-risk

## Materials (one batch)
- 0.5 cup Boiling water (household)
- 7.5 tsp Unflavored gelatin
- 0.25 cup Corn syrup
- Food colors
- Glitter
- Scents (pumpkin, apple, vanilla, cinnamon) (optional)
- 1 piece Small bowls (household)
- 1 piece Spoons (household)
- 1 piece Table covering (paper or plastic) (optional) (household)

## Safety
- Adult handles the boiling water. Kids add gelatin only with an adult right there.
- Check that the mixture has cooled before hands go in. It starts with boiling water.
- Taste-safe at most, not a snack. Craft glitter and food color are not food, so don't let kids eat it.
- Very sticky. Clean bowls and surfaces as soon as play ends, because dried gelatin is hard to get off.
- Food color may stain hands and surfaces.
- Keep sticky hands away from eyes, especially in spice-scented bowls such as cinnamon.
- Supervise sensory play at all times.

## Before you start
- Cover the table. This gets messy and sticky.
- Set out one small heat-safe bowl per color or scent, plus spoons.
- Plan to clean up right after play. Have warm water ready for soaking the bowls.

## Steps
1. Add a scent (pumpkin, apple, vanilla or cinnamon) to each small bowl.
2. Adult: pour 1/2 cup boiling water into the bowl and add food color.
3. With an adult close by, add 3 envelopes (7.5 tsp) of unflavored gelatin to the colored water and stir.
4. Let it sit about 5 minutes until it starts to thicken. Don't let it get too thick.
5. Stir in 1/4 cup corn syrup, then lift the spoon to see the snot strands.
6. Add glitter. Lots of it!
7. Check that it has cooled, then stretch, pull and pinch the goo.
8. Dip hands into all the bowls and mix the colors.
9. Clean up right away. Soak the bowls in warm water and wipe the table before the gelatin dries.

## Tips
- The original recipe calls for much less gelatin. It made a perfect mock snot but wasn't thick enough to play with. More gelatin gave us a thicker goo that worked for us.
- Don't let the gelatin get too thick before you add the corn syrup.
- As the gelatin gets thicker it loses the snot-like consistency and gets more slime-like.
- Quick science: protein from the gelatin + sugars from the corn syrup = gooey snot strands.
- The kids loved and played only with the pink and the vanilla snot. I wouldn't bother with the rest. Bright colors and glitter were enough.
- It's quite sticky with the corn syrup. Clean up as soon as the activity is done: soak the containers in warm water and clean the surface ASAP, because missed gelatin is hard to get off once it dries.
- Making snot at an 8-year-old's birthday party? You might as well call yourself 'favorite person in the room!'

## FAQ
**How messy is cleanup? Do the kids get very sticky?** Yes, the corn syrup makes it quite sticky. Clean up as soon as the activity is done: soak containers in warm water and clean the surface right away, since dried gelatin is hard to remove.
**How much gelatin is in an envelope?** 1 envelope of unflavored gelatin = 2.5 tsp, so the recipe uses 7.5 tsp.
**Are the recipe amounts for each container?** The post doesn't say. The photos show several bowls, one per color or scent.
**Can kids eat it?** Treat it as a play material, not food. The post puts 'edible' in quotes and doesn't cover eating it, and craft glitter isn't edible. Supervise so kids don't eat it.
**What makes the snot strands?** Protein from the gelatin plus sugars from the corn syrup.

## The original post by TurkeyMom (2013)

Today we share something that is so icky gooey and sticky that it is supremely fun for your mess loving kids. These *[**sensory activities**](https://www.funlittles.com/category/sensory-bins/)* for kids does so much for your child- a quick personal observation, language explosion during sensory play, curiosity piques and many interesting questions come about. TwoDaloo has a fantastic article on "**Sensory Play- Is it necessary?**" While you are there, check out her series on language development through sensory play. On to today's fun.

### Sensory Activities: making"edible" fake snot!

We are making gooey stuff which looks like SNOT! Yes, it is apparently a very popular science experiment for school age kids. I have seen this idea on many science for kids websites. Here is **[one](http://www.sciencekids.co.nz/experiments/fakesnot.html).** The recipe calls for [unflavored gelatin](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B007Y3HM5C/?tag=blmemo-20) and [corn syrup](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00061EYDW/?tag=blmemo-20). Check out all our [**previous sensory activities**](https://www.funlittles.com/tag/gelatin/) using gelatin. Be warned that this is a [**messy**](https://www.funlittles.com/sensory-activities-with-sudsy-goop/) and sticky activity. I added few fall scents ( pumpkin, apple, vanilla and cinnamon) to small bowls. I added hot water to the scents along with [food colors](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0029YDR82/?tag=blmemo-20) and set them on the table.



Th kids added unflavored gelatin to the colored water. We let them set for about 5 minutes until they start to thicken. Don't let the gelatin get too thick. Once soft, we added corn syrup. You should be able to see strands resembling snot! *quick science : protein from the gelatin + sugars from the corn syrup = gooey snot strands.* The original recipe calls for much lesser gelatin. While the snot was great it was not thick enough to manipulate and play. It was indeed a perfect mock snot. Since we increased the gelatin we achieved a thicker consistency that worked for us.



Now the original experiment true to the name makes only green colored gooey stuff. Did we stop with just the food colors? We certainly DID NOT? What other crazy thing did we do? Add glitter, yes glitter.



The kids went to down mixing and playing with the resulting gooey substance. The best of all, my older kid came up with this ingenious name - **Princess Snot** because we like to think that when princesses have the sniffles, their snot is pink and has lots of glitter. The substance is stretchable and can be pulled and pinched in many ways. As the gelatin gets thicker it loses the snot like consistency and gets more slime-like!



Since we had made multiple colors, te kids were so excited to dip their hands in all the bowls. Also the kids were attracted towards the vanilla scent and added lots of gold and green glitter and a ton of orange food color.



Of course mixing happened.



The kids loved and played only with the pink and vanilla snot. I wouldn't bother with the rest. Bright colors and glitter were enough.



Here is our reality shot- unedited, uncut version..



**Recipe for this sensory activity**

- 1/2 cup boiling water
- Add 3 envelopes of unflavored gelatin
- 1 envelope = 2.5 TSP
- 1/4 cup of corn syrup

**Thanks for reading**