Pumpkin Slime Recipe - Fall Sensory Play

Fall Recipe for Play - Pumpkin Slime

We've been all about the fall sensory play lately, and I've been so eager to share this pumpkin recipe for play!  Back when we were planning our Fall Recipes for Play series Tammy of Housing a Forest and I both had big plans for play recipes using pumpkin guts.  I wanted to make pumpkin slime, and Tammy planned to make pumpkin sensory dough.  Alas, no one had pumpkins for sale in time for our series, so we had to wait.  Once we were both finally able to get our hands on a pumpkin we thought it would be fun to post together as a pumpkin play recipe challenge.

How to Make Pumpkin Slime

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Supplies:

• school glue
• liquid starch
• a pumpkin
• pumpkin pie spice

How to Make Pumpkin Slime

Directions:  Slime is one of my boys' favorite recipes for play.  I use this super simple two ingredient slime recipe.  I made our pumpkin slime the same way we make all our slime with one fun twist!  I used pumpkin guts.  I cut the top off of a pumpkin and scraped out the insides.  I separated the seeds.  I put about half of the pumpkin guts in the Vitamix and added some liquid starch.  I didn't measure, but I would guess it was about 1/2 cup of liquid starch.  If you would prefer to keep the liquid starch out of your blender you can add a little water to the pumpkin guts and blend just using water and add the starch when you're ready to mix your slime.  I added it to the Vitamix, and washed the appliance well with soap and hot water after blending.

I poured the pureed pumpkin and liquid starch mixture into the hallowed out pumpkin and added school glue.  Again I didn't measure, but I would guess that I added a half a cup of school glue to the pumpkin mixture.  The traditional slime recipe calls for equal amounts of starch and glue, so I aimed for that.  Next I added about three tablespoons of pumpkin pie spice.  The liquid starch has a strong scent, so quite a bit of spice was needed to make it smell like pumpkin pie.  The scent is really optional and could be skipped.  The final touch was adding the pumpkin seeds to the slime mixture.  Then I let it sit for about ten minutes.  I found out when making rainbow sand slime that the glue and starch start doing their magic when left alone.

After the pumpkin slime sat for ten or so minutes I took it outside and set up an invitation to play.

JZ (6) was doubtful at first.  He kept making faces and telling me the slime looked disgusting.  I'm so glad he decided to touch it, because he immediately smiled and said it was so cool!  Peanut (26 months) wandered off and found something else to do.

JZ proceeded to play with the slime for almost an hour.

Adding the pureed pumpkin and seeds gave our slime a unique texture.  It didn't become as rubbery as traditional slime.  It oozed kind of like Oobleck but stickier.

The more JZ played with the mixture the more the ingredients formed together.

The other three boys came out and checked out the slime, but Tank (26 months) was the only one who dared to stick his hands in.  He was mesmerized by the unique texture.

This pumpkin slime was hands down JZ's favorite fall recipe for play so far!  When a little spilled outside of the pumpkin he got concerned and asked if we could make more if he ran out.  When he was done playing I poured the slime into a bowl and left it on our counter uncovered.  Typically I store slime in an airtight container, but the pumpkin puree has kept it from drying out.  I'm sure it will go bad before too long, but so far it is still going strong.

The glue in the recipe makes the slime super stretchy.  JZ repeatedly scooped a handful and slowly pulled his hands apart, watching the slime stretch.  Tank moved on to his cars.  I love this photo, because it gives you a very real idea of what our activities are like.  I tend to zoom in on the activities and leave out a lot of the background, but most often there is at least one child nearby doing something completely different.

For more slime recipes follow me on Pinterest.

Now pop on over to Housing a Forest and see how they made their pumpkin sensory dough!

More fall sensory play ideas:

Glowing Magic Milk Experiment ~ Fall Playdough Recipes ~ Erupting Apple Sidewalk Chalk Printing