Prehistoric slime soda – how to make this fresh and fun dinosaur drink

“We haven’t made a dinosaur drink for the blog yet, Mamasaurus”.

Our Little Dinosaur Aficionado was right. This gaping omission needed rapid rectification. And we had the perfect drink to add.

Refreshing, fun, and very simple, our prehistoric slime soda is perfect for dinosaur-themed birthday parties, sipping by the pool between plesiosaur playtimes, and savouring while watching your favourite dinosaur blockbuster movie. The best bit is these can be tailored to suit what’s available and whether you can be bothered going to the shops to get any ingredients.

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Which dinosaurs struggled with slime?

When I think of slime, I think of slimy green algae that grow in still waters and even in aquariums. Algae have been around for longer than dinosaurs – microscopic spherical algae resembling living algae (Porphyridium) from the Gunflint Iron Formation in North America were formed 1.9 billion years ago.

Some dinosaurs lived in environments naturally conducive to slime or algae.

Riparian forests were lush with trees and vegetation growing alongside a river or marsh. They provided ample food for dinosaurs but were also prone to flooding. The Morrison Formation – the most fertile source of dinosaur fossils in North America where Diplodocus, Allosaurus, and Apatosaurus were found – was once a riparian forest.

Swamp forests were similar, but were bountiful in flowers and other late-evolving plants. They supported huge herds of hadrosaurs, the “cows of the Cretaceous”, as well as the therapods that preyed on them.

Prehistoric lagoons are a bountiful source of fossils. These large bodies of calm, tepid water trapped behind reefs preserved dead organisms in silt, resulting in fossils. Solnhofen in the Altmühl Valley in Germany was once a lagoon. Archaeopteryx and Compsognathus both lived in this prehistoric environment, together with numerous Pterosaurs.

This makes slime – and algae in particular – great inspiration for our prehistoric slime sodas.

How to make prehistoric slime soda

Australians call them spiders. Americans call them floats. You scoop some ice cream into a milkshake glass and pour your favourite soft drink or soda over the top.

Of course, we’ve adapted ours a little to dino-fy it.

And we’re using (s)lime (see what I did there?), one of the most refreshing tastes I know.

And these prehistoric slime sodas are easy to make:

1. Take a large glass and add your lime juice, grated lime rind, and a few drops of green food dye.
2. Pour in your lemonade or lime soda, stirring as you go so you have a nice green hue.
3. Add a scoop of vanilla ice cream (dunk it under the soda to get it bubbling and fizzing).
4. Add a straw, spoon, and any garnishes.
5. Enjoy!

Tailoring your lemon soda float to make it prehistoric slime soda

For such a simple recipe, you can adapt this prehistoric slime soda to what you have on hand.

1. If your child does not like lime rind (or any rind), change it to lemon rind or omit it entirely.
2. You can swap lime juice for lemon juice or a combination of both.
3. You can swap the lime juice and sugar for lime-flavoured cordial – if the cordial is green, you can even omit the food colouring.
4. The food dye is optional and only to make it look slimy.
5. Use lemonade, lemon and/or lime-flavoured soda (which would make it a lime, not lemon soda float), or even sparkling water (which would work better if you are using cordial).
6. If you want a more natural taste, use lime or lemon sorbet instead of vanilla ice cream. In my experience, vanilla ice cream will fizz more.
7. Don’t want to mess with the ice cream or sorbet? Freeze some ice cubes. Use huge ice cubes and put tiny plastic dinosaurs in them for more prehistoric fun. Make sure you wash the dinosaurs well before using and ensure you have plenty of time for the ice cubes to freeze (they will take longer than normal due to their size).

The finishing touches for your prehistoric slime soda

A few simple elements will turn your prehistoric slime sodas from fresh to fun.

Use large glasses. When you add the ice cream or sorbet to your lemon soda float it will fizz up and expand: your glass will need to be tall enough (and don’t fill the liquid to the top). We recommend milkshake glasses or pina colada glasses.

You’ll need straws. These dinosaur straws are on theme and can be used as party favours, too. We just used some plastic ones that colour-coordinated with our drink.

Long-handled spoons are also a necessity. How else will you stir the drink to get it to fizz or eat the ice cream?

One trick we’ve used at a few dinosaur-themed parties is to make popular dinosaur skewers. They’re great when you don’t have dinosaur straws. Take some simple wooden skewers and thread one or two dinosaur gummies onto each skewer. Use it to adorn your prehistoric slime soda (or cocktail), like a swizzle stick.

And we sprinkled some of our favourite Jurassic Party sprinkles on top of our ice cream. I love the mini T-Rexes! If you don’t live in Germany, try these Triceratops sprinkles instead (or these with pink Stegosauruses!).

Can you make these prehistoric slime sodas in advance?

No. You will have flat soda and melted ice cream or sorbet if you make them too far in advance.

You can prepare your skewers and/or line the rims of your glasses in advance. You can also add your lime juice, rind, and green food colour to each glass. The final steps will have to wait until you are ready to serve your prehistoric slime sodas.

Want to play with dinosaur slime instead?

We haven’t shared our recipe for slime yet (though we have shared our “recipe” for prehistoric tar pits). Soon, I promise.

If you’re looking for some dinosaur slime to play with, we’ve got a few suggestions:

• Try this slime kit or this slime kit with dinosaurs you can use to learn about making slime, including glow-in-the-dark and glitter slime.
• This Dinosaur Island kit has both slime and sand a a toy dinosaur, of course. This egg is more fitting to arctic dinosaurs, with dinosaur slime and stretchy snow.
• Our LDA wants this slime, affectionately called dinosaur snot.

Try our recipe for this dinosaur-themed drink

This prehistoric slime soda is perfect for sipping during your next dinosaur birthday party, imbibing poolside on hot summer days, and quenching your thirst while watching your favourite movie. They’re refreshing and fun and are not only simple to make (even for junior dinosaur fans), but you can tailor this recipe to suit what you have in your fridge. This makes this prehistoric (s)lime soda the perfect dinosaur-themed drink.

Have you ever made a dinosaur-themed drink? What did you call it?

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