SDCC ‘26: Nickelodeon brings free slime experience to Comic-Con

Nickelodeon is doubling down on its San Diego Comic-Con presence this year, pairing its usual show-floor booth with a free, a.k.a. no badge is required, activation for the general public, taking place near the convention center at The New Children’s Museum.

Inside the convention center, the network returns to Booth #4113 with the “Fun-Ergy Factory,” a 1,800 square feet of interactive challenges themed to SpongeBob SquarePants, Avatar: The Last Airbender, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Fans build up “fun-ergy” through the challenges, with the payoff being a nearly 20-foot Slime Surge. The booth also includes a TMNT-themed sewer photo op and daily giveaways and character appearances.

New this year is “Fun Flows Here,” an outdoor activation running Thursday, July 23 through Sunday, July 26 at The New Children’s Museum Park (200 W. Island Ave.), staged in partnership with the museum. Unlike the con-floor booth, it’s free and open to the public — no SDCC badge required to be slimed.

"We are a museum that is based in creativity and imagination, and Nickelodeon with all of their classic characters and shows. They are also interested in creativity and imagination, and so it just pairs beautifully with everything that we're doing here at NCM," said Elizabeth Yang-Hellewell, CEO of the New Children's Museum, in a statement to San Diego’s CBS News 8.

The outdoor setup includes a “Kids Imagine Nation” stage with live performances and games themed to PAW Patrol, The Thundermans, and Star Trek: Scouts; photo installations for SpongeBob and Avatar; a dedicated slime station where visitors can get, well, slimed; and a “Nickelodeon Our World” area for make-your-own-slime activities, bubble play, DJ sets, and raffles. 

Yang-Hellewell added, "People are going to be slimed in that sort of classic '90s Double Dare fashion. So, if you remember those, just people being slimed from overhead, that is going to be happening in the park activation."

The weekend caps off Friday, July 24, with a free outdoor screening of The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants at 7 p.m.