Getting Started Making Homemade Slime

Making homemade slime is a fun and easy activity that can be enjoyed by kids and adults alike. With just a few simple ingredients, you can create a variety of slime textures and colors. Before you start, make sure you have a clean and flat surface to work on, as well as a bowl and spoon for mixing.

It’s also a good idea to wear old clothes or an apron to protect your clothing. Setting up your slime-making station is the first step in slime-making. So, gather your materials, roll up your sleeves, and get ready to make some slime!

Woah! Yes, you can make slime at home, and in your very favorite color, too. 

Essential Ingredients for Slime Making

To make homemade slime, you will need a few essential ingredients. These include:

• Glue: This is the base ingredient for most slime recipes. You can use white glue, clear glue, glow-in-the-dark glue, or sparkly glue. The type of glue you choose will affect the texture and appearance of your slime.
• Food coloring: This is used to add color to your slime. You can use liquid food coloring or gel food coloring to achieve your desired color. 
• Baking soda: This is a common ingredient in many slime recipes and helps to create a fun and stretchy texture. It’s a key player in achieving that perfect slime consistency.
• Shaving cream: This is key for fluffy slime making!
• Saline solution: This liquid solution helps to activate the slime and create a smooth and stretchy texture. It’s often used in borax-free recipes and is a great alternative for those looking for a gentler option.
• Contact solution: Another liquid solution that can be used to activate the slime and create a fun and stretchy texture. Make sure it contains boric acid or sodium borate to work effectively.

With these ingredients on hand, you’re well on your way to making some amazing slime!

The Science of Making Slime at Home

I found that if you have a basic understanding of how these ingredients work together to make slime, you will be able to create some pretty cool concoctions (not to mention, sound smart to your kids!).

In these recipes, the glue acts like a polymer. When borax is mixed with water, it forms an ion called borate ion. Similarly, you can make borax-free slime with contact lens solution—just make sure the ingredients list either boric acid or sodium borate and you are good to go. 

It’s only when you mix these two solutions together that the borate ions help link the polymer molecules so they cannot flow as easily, which is how glue becomes slime!

It all starts with a simple white glue.

My daughter loves making slime and we have several favorite mom-tested, kid-approved slime recipes:

1. Basic Slime Recipe With Glue and Food Coloring

In one of the bowls, mix ¼ cup of water and ¼ cup of white school glue. If you would like colored slime, add a few drops of food coloring to the solution.

In another bowl, mix ½ tbs Borax with ½ a cup of water and stir until the borax has dissolved.

Add the borax solution to the glue solution and mix. You can also pour the solutions into a resealable plastic bag and mix.

A slime-like texture should begin to form immediately. Continue to stir and knead until you get the consistency you want.

Remove your slime from the bowl (or bag) and enjoy.

2. Glow-in-the-Dark Slime

For glow-in-the-dark slime, simply add glow-in-the-dark paint to the glue solution of the Basic Slime Recipe.

3. Glitter Slime

We used transparent glue gel, to create this “sparkle slime” (as my daughter likes to call it). In the Basic Slime Recipe, use clear glue gel instead of white glue and add glitter. The resulting slime is a fun way to play with glitter, without leaving a trail of sparkles around your home.

4. Found Objects Slime

We added a few pony beads to our resealable plastic bag before mixing. This is actually one of my daughter’s favorite slimes to play with. Searching for the beads in the otherwise silky slime is very tactile and satisfying. You can even add different sorts of objects and make “Eye Spy” slime!

5. Fluffy Borax-Free Slime

Pour about ¼ cup of white glue into a bowl. Add about ½ cup of shaving cream by squirting it into the bowl. With a wooden spoon, mix these two ingredients together until you feel like there isn’t any glue left (you can keep squirting small amounts of shaving cream into the bowl to achieve this consistency). Start adding small amounts of contact lens solution to this mixture. Since the contact lens solution is the “slime activator,” you can keep adding it until you have fluffy slime.

Troubleshooting Homemade Slime

These recipes are meant to provide a good base to get your creative slime juices flowing. If your slime is too runny or too stiff, try adding little bits of contact lens solution or borax solution to it at a time. 

The only way to make a thicker or runnier slime is to add more or less borax solution. If you simply add water, you will just end up with a gluey mess.

Keep your hands—and home—clean by mixing slime in a disposable, resealable baggie.

Tips and Safety Precautions

When making homemade slime, there are a few tips and safety precautions to keep in mind to ensure a safe and enjoyable experience:

• Wash your hands: Make sure to wash your hands thoroughly before and after playing with slime. This helps to keep everything clean and prevents any potential irritation.
• Skin irritation: If you experience any skin irritation or allergic reactions while making or playing with slime, discontinue use and consult a doctor. 
• Keep away from pets and young children: Slime can be a choking hazard, so keep it away from pets and young children who may put it in their mouths.
• Handle borax or boric acid carefully: If you are using borax or boric acid in your slime recipe, make sure to handle it carefully and avoid inhaling the powder. These ingredients can be irritating if not used properly.
• Use shaving cream cautiously: If you are using shaving cream in your slime recipe, make sure to avoid getting it in your eyes.

By following these tips and safety precautions, you can ensure that your slime-making experience is both fun and safe for kids of all ages and abilities. Happy slime making!

The 5 Best Slime-Making Kits

This basic kit is all you need to make several batches and types of slime. Photo courtesy of Amazon

Sometimes, you don’t want to assemble all the ingredients and measure everything yourself. For the DIY experience without the hassle, these are my favorite slime-making kits. All are non-toxic and lead to hours of hands-on, STEM fun.

1. Best Basic Slime Kit: Elmer’s Fluffy Slime Kit

Inexpensive, basic, and gets you all the tools you need to start making fluffy slime! 

2. Best Big Slime Kit: Zen Laboratory Jumbo Slime Kit

This one has all the extras to make any kind of slime you can imagine, from glow-in-the-dark slime to sparkle slime, colorful slime to cool add-ins, and more!

This kit will let you turn your home into a slime ice cream parlor! Photo courtesy of Amazon

3. Best Birthday Slime Kit: FunKidz Ice Cream Butter Slime Kit

This mega kit is perfect for birthday parties, where kids can use the scents and supplies to make cake and ice cream slimes.

4. Best Science Slime Kit: National Geographic Mega Slime Kit & Putty Lab 

Calling all budding scientists! This is a great STEM kit for kids who love to get hands-on with their science (and goo!).

5. Best Halloween Slime Kit: FunKidz Monster Slime Kit 

If the slime factor isn’t gross enough, here you can make ghost slime, monster slime, eyeball slime, and more.

Slime Museums, for Messy Fun Away From Home

If making slime and getting goopy sounds like fun, but the mess in your home is less than enticing, may we suggest a visit to a slime museum? These are popping up all over the country. If you have a SlooMoo near you, consider visiting for a whole afternoon slime experience that includes making custom slime and even getting slimed.

SlooMoo currently exists in NYC, Houston, Atlanta, Chicago, and LA; check out our review of the newest location that opened in Los Angeles to get a peek at what happens behind the slime.

All photos are by the author unless otherwise noted.

This article contains affiliate links, which means we might earn a small commission if you make a purchase. There is no extra cost to the reader. We only recommend products and services that we have personally used or have thoroughly researched.