Your hardworking nose and sinuses produce about a quart of snot every day! That may sound disgusting, but the slimy stuff actually does a very important job: Mucus in your nose traps germs and dust you breathe in, preventing the stuff from getting into your lungs, where it could cause an infection. Fake snot, on the other hand, has only one purpose: gross pranks. And it’s snot hard to make.
what you need
* Measuring cups
* Water
* A small bowl
* A tablespoon
* Unflavored gelatin (look for it in the baking section of your supermarket)
* A fork
* Corn syrup (also in the baking section)
* Paper towels
* Red food coloring
* A few strands of cooked spaghetti
#54 Basic Snot: what you do
THE SETUP
1 Ask an adult to help you boil some water and pour ½ cup of it into the bowl.
2 Carefully sprinkle in 2 tablespoons of gelatin so it evenly covers the whole surface.
3 Let the gelatin soften for a few minutes. Then use a fork to gently push any undissolved gelatin into the water so it gets soaked, and stir the mixture with the fork.
4 Stir in ¼ cup corn syrup.
5 Let the mixture thicken for about 1 hour. The longer you wait, the more solid it will become. It’s up to you how runny you want your snot to be. If it gets too thick, you can add water, a little bit at a time, to make it runnier.
PULL THE PRANK
1 Put a big gob of the fake snot in a paper towel and hold it in your hand with the snot hidden.
2 When your victim is nearby, sneeze loudly into the paper towel and then pretend to blow your nose into it. You can make a good nose-blowing sound by voicing the letter K in the back of your throat. (Practice this beforehand.)
3 After “blowing” your nose for a long time, stop and look into the open paper towel and act horrified. You can say, “Eww! Look how much snot I just blew out.” Show the huge blob of mucus to your victim and enjoy the reaction of disgust.
4 You can also try leaving a glob of fake snot in the sink or next to a box of tissues in the bathroom, or putting some on your face and pretending you don’t realize it’s there. Or invent your own uses.
#55 Bloody Snot: what you do
THE SETUP
1 Follow the basic snot recipe on page 137. Add 3 drops of red food coloring, and you’ll have bloody snot.
PULL THE PRANK
1 Follow steps 1 through 3 of “Pull the Prank” from page 137 for regular fake snot.
2 When you get to step 3, you can scream when you look inside the paper towel. Then tell your victim that your doctor warned you not to blow your nose too hard or your brains might start coming out of your nose. Or say that you have a spider living in your nostril and it keeps giving you a bloody nose.
#56 Worm in the Nose: what you do
THE SETUP
1 Make basic snot using the recipe on page 137.
2 Put a piece of cooked spaghetti in a blob of fake snot. Leave one end of the noodle sticking out slightly.
PULL THE PRANK
1 Place the blob of snot in your left hand (you can put it inside a paper towel if you want).
2 When your victim is nearby, sneeze and then pretend to blow your nose as described on page 137. But hold both hands together as you blow.
3 While “blowing,” grab the end of the noodle with your right hand, place it inside your nostril, and press the fingers of your right hand against the outside of your nose to hold the noodle in place. Keep your nose close to the blob so your victim cannot see you position the noodle.
4 With your right hand holding your nose, slowly raise your head. The noodle will gradually get pulled out of the blob. You should watch it in horror and then scream and say something like, “Oh my God, there’s a worm in my nose! Help!”
