NJ families, take note: Downtown Slime lets kids make slime without the at-home mess
⚠️ Families can let kids make a slime mess without dealing with the cleanup at home.
➡️ Studio coaches guide families through the slime-making process from start to finish.
🔴 The full experience takes less than an hour and ends at a scent and charm bar.
FREEHOLD — Families looking for a great spot to be hands on and create some sensory magic slime have a new business to visit in Monmouth County.
Since the end of August, Downtown Slime has been keeping customers of all ages happy and busy, mixing and modifying their own signature slime.
The family-owned slime art studio is located at 36 South Street in the heart of downtown Freehold, steps from a municipal-run parking lot.
Michael Sclafani and Lauren Deutsch-Sclafani are the owners, clearly inspired by their daughters’ own passion for the activity and realizing the service they’re offering to families.
A slime-making experience without the mess at home
Each experience is led by a Downtown Slime “coach” — my daughter and I were helped by Gianna. She couldn’t have been sweeter or more enthusiastic about the fun in front of us, on their stainless steel tables.
That’s a key win as an adult.
You get to take a slime-loving kiddo and make a mess of glue, activator, color powder and possible other ingredients outside of your own home.
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Plus, they have all the ingredients at the ready, for whichever texture slime you are looking to create.
No frustrating clean-up or depleted supplies — as I’ve seen first-hand a slime making station without supervision can quickly descend into chaos.
Making slime from start to scent-adding finish is less than an hour.
So, it doesn’t take up an entire day, but the finished product goes home and continues to entertain.
From butter slime to making giant bubbles
My daughter, a slime connoisseur, made a teal butter slime (which means clay is added).
I opted to make pink fluffy slime (shaving cream adds the desired texture).
While mixing and adjusting, Gianna also showed us how to make a giant bubble with our slime — which I didn’t even realize was a thing.
Now I can’t stop trying to recreate it.
We finished our creations at the scent and charm bar — picking out coconut and fruit loops scents, along with glitter or sparkles and a couple small mix-in charms.
Downtown Freehold studio welcomes walk-ins and parties
The Downtown Slime window storefront is perfect for walk-in visitors, who can see the fun happening inside.
There is also an upstairs space that means when a party is booked, there’s a good chance they can still fit you in.
It's also a perfect stop before a family meal in downtown Freehold — then the kids have another fidget item to entertain themselves while waiting — or even after, as a treat before heading home.
As of almost-fall — the studio is open Tuesday through Sunday and closed on Mondays.
During the school year, weekdays they are open after school hours, while — the weekend has expanded daytime hours.
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