This Shimmery 3-Ingredient Slime Recipe is Easy to Make

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This 3-ingredient DIY slime recipe using Borax is frugal, easy, kid-friendly, and totally customizable.

Girl pulling diy slime out of a metal bowl

Are you looking for a fun at-home activity to do with the kiddos?

Make some DIY slime with Borax! This crazy cool cousin to Play-Doh has been super trendy in the last few years, and you’d never believe how easy it is to make right at home. You get to skip out on expensive store prices and you can customize it to your heart’s content—what’s not to love? 😍

Our easy slime recipe takes just 3 ingredients to make (borax, glue, and water), and it provides lots of gooey wiggly sensory entertainment! The kids will have just as much fun making it as they will playing with it after. 🙌

Box of Borax on counter beside measuring cup

Plus, it’s a great little mini science lesson learning how mixing Borax with polyvinyl acetate (a liquid polymer found in glue) creates one big squishy polymer when the molecules are linked together.

DIY slime is crafty, creative, and makes learning cool! 🙌

Three different colors of slime on counter

Here are some helpful tips for creating the perfect slime recipe with Borax at home:

  • Keep your DIY slime covered in the fridge so it’ll last longer and not get moldy (we put ours in a freezer Ziploc bag). The texture over time will get to be more like putty as it’s played with.
  • If you want to add some sparkle or dazzle to your slime, add some glitter. You can find tons of eco-friendly brands that are sure to brighten up your slime and add star quality to it! ✨ You can also give your DIY slime some texture with miniature pearls!
  • If you want your slime to be more stretchy, add 1-2 squirts of lotion to the mixture.

pouring water out of slime

And did you know that you can make it fluorescent?

The coolest thing about making your own slime is that you can add in pretty much anything you want, including neat fluorescent colors! Just cut the tip from a fluorescent highlighter and let it sit in 500ml of water for several minutes. Then, make the slime using that water, and your kids will be amazed to see the slime glow under a blacklight. 🙌

Child mixing DIY slime mix in glass bowl

slime with sparkles mixed together in bowl


Basic DIY Slime with Borax

Print

Supplies Needed

Directions

1

Pour the glue and 1/2 cup water into a bowl and mix well. Add food coloring, glitter, pearls, or paint at this time and mix together. Set aside.

2

In a separate bowl, combine 1 cup warm water and the Borax powder and mix until the powder is dissolved.

3

Combine the two mixtures in a large bowl and mix until slime begins to form. Pour excess water out.

4

Let your kiddos squeeze, squish, and mold to their heart’s content (and you’ll probably love this, too!). Store in a sealed container or zip-top bag when not use, and make sure to mark “slime – do not eat!” if keeping in the fridge.


Green and gold slime in bowl

Check out more fun & easy DIY slime recipes!


Check out these fun summer activities using Dollar Tree items!

Join The Discussion

Comments 4

  1. IrishND98

    Is Borax safe to play with?

    • Jennifer (Hip Sidekick)

      Hopefully, you will find this helpful from an article I found: β€œThere are no real health risks if kids are simply playing with the slime,” Dr. Baumann-Blackmore says. β€œIt contains such a small amount of Borax that it would be unlikely to cause damage to the skin. Slime can be harmful if ingested, however, so parents should be sure that young children are supervised closely when playing with it.”

    • Del

      Here’s an article from EWG about it being an endocrine disruptor. It can affect fertility. Both the European Union and Canada restrict these ingredients in body care products made for children under three years of age and require that products containing these ingredients be labeled as not appropriate for broken or damaged skin. No similar safety standards are in place in the United States.

      https://www.ewg.org/news-insights/news/borax-not-green-alternative-its-cracked-be

    • Kendra Martellaro

      I have made slime with my kids over 28 years ago with Borax and they are just fine.so are all the neighbors and church kids we made slime with

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