Veterans Day is a day off for New York City public school kids and for a lot of districts on Long Island and in Westchester, and November is when the rain keeps everyone inside. That's usually when slime, Play-Doh and kinetic sand come out on the living room or playroom rug. All three come out of a rug, but each one needs a different approach, and the most common first move (grabbing a wet cloth and scrubbing) makes two of them worse.

First, don't rub

Rubbing works the stuff down into the pile and spreads it sideways. Pick up what you can by hand, then work with a spoon or a dull butter knife, lifting toward the middle of the spot so it doesn't get bigger. Before you put any liquid on the rug, know what the rug is made of. Our guide to telling synthetic rug fibers apart helps. Polypropylene, nylon and polyester handle the steps below. Wool handles them if you stay gentle and use cool water. Viscose ("art silk"), real silk, jute and sisal should get as little water as possible, and the silk and viscose post explains why.

Slime

Most homemade and store-bought slime is white or clear school glue (PVA) set with borax or a contact lens solution that contains boric acid. Some batches also have shaving cream, glitter or food coloring mixed in.

  1. Scrape off the lump. If it's soft and stringy, hold an ice pack or a sandwich bag of ice on it for ten minutes. Cold slime is stiffer and comes off in pieces instead of stretching.
  2. Dissolve what's left with white vinegar. The acid loosens what holds slime together, so the rest turns back into a sticky liquid you can blot. On synthetic rugs you can use it straight. On wool, mix it about half and half with cool water. Dab it on, wait five minutes, then blot with a white cloth and keep working the gunk loose with the dull knife.
  3. Rinse. Blot with a cloth dampened in plain cool water, then press dry towels on it. Glue and vinegar left in the pile make a stiff, dirt-catching patch.
  4. Deal with color last. A drop of clear dish soap in a cup of cool water, blotted on and rinsed off, lifts most food coloring. Some bright colors, especially on wool, won't fully come out at home.
  5. Glitter. Let the spot dry, then vacuum with the crevice tool and finish with packing tape pressed onto the pile.

Skip hot water. It does soften glue, but on wool it can set dye and fuzz the pile, and on a hand-tufted rug it can soften the latex glue that holds the backing on. Our post on hand-knotted vs. hand-tufted rugs shows how to tell which you have.

Play-Doh

Play-Doh is mostly flour, salt and water with coloring. The main mistake is wetting it. Wet dough turns into a paste that spreads and stains.

  1. Let it dry. Leave it alone for several hours or overnight. It hardens and gets crumbly.
  2. Break it up and vacuum. Flex the pile with your fingers or a stiff brush to crack the dried bits loose, then vacuum. Go over it from a few directions.
  3. Treat the color. If a tint is left, blot with the dish soap and cool water mix, then rinse and blot dry. Work from the outside of the spot in.

Kinetic sand

Kinetic sand is ordinary fine sand coated with a small amount of silicone oil, which is why it sticks to itself. Water won't help, and on some rugs it leaves a dark, oily-looking patch.

  1. Use the sand on itself. Press a big ball of kinetic sand onto the spill and pull it away. It picks up loose grains better than anything else.
  2. Vacuum, then vacuum the back. Sand sinks to the base of the pile. On a smaller rug, flip it and vacuum the back, or take it outside and give it a few shakes, then vacuum the front again.
  3. Oily shadow. If a darker patch stays, blot it with the dish soap mix and rinse. Don't scrub. On wool or a handmade rug, leave it for a wash.

Sand left deep in a rug acts like sandpaper every time someone walks on it, which is why a rug that's been a sandbox for a winter wears fast in the spots where kids sit.

Crayon and marker

Crayon is wax, so the method in our candle wax post applies: harden it with ice, scrape, and lift the rest with a warm iron over a brown paper bag (synthetics and wool only, low setting). Washable markers usually come out with cool water and blotting. Permanent marker is a real stain and needs a solvent that can strip dye or loosen a latex backing, so test in a corner first or leave it to a professional.

When to stop and send it out

  • Color is spreading or getting lighter around the edges instead of disappearing.
  • The spot dried stiff, crunchy or darker than the rest of the rug.
  • It's wool, viscose, silk or handmade and the mess covers more than a few inches.
  • The rug has had a whole season as a play area: sand in the base, old slime spots, juice and crumbs on top.

Please don't reach for a rented carpet machine for this. Our post on using a carpet cleaner on an area rug covers what happens when a rug is soaked and only half dried. Tell us what the spot is when you book, so the cleaners know what they're dealing with. Our page on area rug stain removal explains how a known stain history is handled as part of the wash.

What it costs and how long it takes

Pricing is by size. A 4 × 6 kids' room rug is $206 total, which includes the $50 pickup and return fee for orders under $250. A 5 × 8 is $260 and an 8 × 10 is $520, both with pickup and return included. Pickup is usually within 48 hours of booking, and the rug comes back cleaned 7 to 10 business days after pickup. Thanksgiving is November 26, so a rug picked up this week or early next week should be back around the holiday. Measure it flat, edge to edge without the fringe, and enter the size in the rug cleaning price calculator to see your total.