Do you even have kids if you’ve never made slime? I have a love/hate relationship with the stuff. She loves it / I hate it because it’s messy and almost always ends up somewhere it’s not meant to be. BUT I do have to admit that it is pretty fun to make and also VERY satisfying when you get the recipe just right and make perfect slime.

I feel like we’ve made every slime recipe known to man. We have whole books dedicated to the stuff. We’ve made fluffy slime, galaxy slime, bubble slime, glow in the dark slime and even edible slime using all sorts of ingredients and methods.

When we find one that works we make sure to add it to this page to save you all the time (and frustration) of finding one that works. It is a bit of trial and error though and sometimes it can work one day and not the next. Different weather, different brands, different levels of supervision but kids LOVE MAKING SLIME so give it a go!

THE Easiest Slime Recipe Ever

1 stick of Blu Tack + 2/3 pumps of hand soap = STRETCHY SLIME!!
No borax, no measuring, no mess, no fail slime!

Fluffy Slime

We decided to UP the slime skills and try making Fluffy Slime. Just as easy, only needs a few extra ingredients from our basic slime above.

What you’ll need to make fluffy slime: 

  • Contact Lens/Saline solution ** MUST CONTAIN BORIC ACID **
  • Craft Glue. We used white craft PVA glue from Kmart. $4
  • Water
  • Shaving cream
  • Cornstarch
  • Foaming hand wash
  • Moisturiser (whatever you’ve got lying around)
  • 1 large cup
  • 1 large mixing bowl
  • Food colouring
  • Airtight containers to store

Tips to remember……vinegar dissolves slime, toothpaste removes food colouring from hands.

How to make it

  1. In a bowl add 1/2 cup of glue, 1/2 cup shaving cream, 1/2 cup foaming handwash, 1 tsp cornstarch and a couple pumps of moisturiser. Stir.
  2. Add your food colouring. Stir again
  3. 1 squirt at a time add your contact lens/saline solution. You’ll need to experiment with how much you need for your perfect slime consistency, but we found around 3-4 squirts worked well.
  4. You’ll notice almost straight away that your mixture starts to become sticky and slimy. When it’s at the point you can take it out of the bowl with your hands start kneading and folding your slime until it’s nice and stretchy. Add more borax if it’s too sticky. Add a tiny bit of plain water if it’s too tough.

And there you have it! Fluffy, stretchy SLIME! Store it in an airtight container and it’ll last a while too.

Basic Slime

What you’ll need

  • Contact lens solution or saline solution. Get it cheap as you can find it BUT IT MUST contain BORIC ACID. Check the ingredients list because if it doesn’t have this it won’t work
  • Glue. Experiment with this. We’ve tried pva school glue, glitter glue, coloured glue there’s lots of different types of glue out there now that will work. I normally just buy what’s on special
  • Bicarb (1 teaspoon per slime ball)
  • Bowl or container for mixing. We use cheap plastic containers that can be used for mixing, and then storing.
  • Glitter, foam beads, sequins, essential oil and other bits to experiment with. Not essential, but just cool to try different add ins when you get your slime base perfected.

And a good tip to remember……vinegar dissolves slime.

How to make it

  1. Pour all of your glue into the plastic bowl
  2. Pop in one teaspoon of bicarb and mix until any lumps are dissolved.
  3. At this stage we normally add in our add ins (if you want to) glitter, foam beads, shaving cream, essential oil etc. If you want to experiment, this is the point to do it
  4. Now you need to add your saline/contact lens solution. Start with a good squirt (I’d say 2ish tablespoons, but no need to measure) and then stir like crazy. You’ll notice straight away that it starts to polymerize* which is very cool.
  5. Keep stirring like there’s no tomorrow. Get those biceps working and really stir it. Try and get as much of the saline/contact solution combined with the glue as possible. Keep stiring, keep stiring!If your mixture is still sticky, add a squirt more solution and stir. Repeat until you get to the point you can lift your slime ball out of the container and now it’s time to squeeze, squelch and squish your slime in your hands until it’s not sticky anymore.
  6. If you need to you can keep adding saline/contact solution (little bit at a time) until you can stretch your slime without it sticking to your hands.
  7. Go crazy! Your slime is complete!
  8. Store in an air tight container
  9. Make sure you read and obey the slime rules below….(my daughter is still perfecting this step unfortunately.)

 

What do we learn when we make slime?

The two main concepts for slime science are polymers and Non-Newtonian Fluids. The white glue in our slime is a polymer, a large chain of molecules that allows it to be poured. When we add the borax it changes the structure of the chain making the polymer thicker turning it into our awesome slime!

A Non-Newtonian Fluid is neither a true liquid or a true solid. You can pick it up like a solid. However, it will begin to flow like a liquid and will also take the shape of the container.

Here is an easy to understand pdf about the Science of Slime

The Rules of Slime (as I told my daughter)

  • Slime is for outside, it’s messy and sticky but also lots of fun for OUTSIDE play!
  • It’s for “big kids” only to play with, which for us means you have to be over 4. These ingredients are safe to touch but NEVER to be eaten, so don’t leave slime around kids who are likely to put it in their mouth.
  • When you’ve finished playing with it store it in an air tight container. We use glass jars but a sambo bag would also work.
  • Always wash your hands when you’ve finished playing
  • polymerization is a process of reacting monomer molecules together in a chemical reaction to form polymer chains or three-dimensional networks.

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