Although the weather is improving in much of the country, we’re all still facing many more “inside” days. Your kid is sick of his favorite TV shows. She doesn’t want to color anymore. You’ve built and knocked over all the block towers you’re going to build. Your tyke looking at you like, “now what?” It’s time to up your game, Mom. It’s time for giant slime. Specifically, make-your-own giant slime.
The best part of this slime is that there’s nothing toxic or expensive involved—it’s made with household items. And much like baking, half the fun is making it. (The other half of the fun is actually having slime.) I got this recipe from my mother who used to make the stuff with her kindergarten students. She tweaked the recipe from other websites.
Slime even has an optional educational option, if your interested (see below).
Shopping List
Your shopping list can be completed at a dollar store. Go cheap! You also likely have some of these items laying around your house. You don’t need much volume of some of them, so check your cabinets before you spend the money. Click for a Giant Slime Recipe pdf.
- White school glue, like Elmer’s (the more bottles you buy, the more slime you’ll make. We used five bottles). The bottles should be the average size.
- Baking soda
- Foaming soap or body wash
- Shaving cream
- Food color (optional, but who wants “plain” slime?)
- Contact lens solution (containing boric acid or sodium borate)
How to Make It
- Empty the bottles of glue in a bowl (you can use a kitchen bowl—it comes off and is safe to use again for cooking after you wash it).
- Add ½ teaspoon of baking soda for each bottle of glue. Stir.
- Add a squirt of foaming soap for each bottle of glue. Stir.
- Add ¼ c. shaving cream for each bottle of glue. Stir.
- Add your favorite color of food dye. It will take several drops, and you can experiment with adding more to get a darker color. Stir.
- Finally, add the contact lens solution, a squeeze at a time. (This is what makes the chemical reaction that turns it into slime). Keep adding until the solution starts to pull away from the bowl. The more you play with it, the firmer it becomes. If it’s too stiff, add in more shaving cream.)
What to Do with It
Pull it, drop it, twist it, poke it. Let it drip from your fingertips. Get weird. It’s slime!
Why Does It Work?
Not only is this fun, it’s a great science experiment. Depending on the age of your child, you can share the chemistry behind it. Click here for a great explanation.
If you want the Cliff’s Notes version, here you go:
What you’re making is actually a liquid. It’s called a non-Newtonian liquid, which basically means it’s a liquid that gets thick and resistant to flow (viscous) the more it’s manipulated. The manipulation is known in chemistry as sheer stress, and it occurs when you mix it and play with it. By contrast, a Newtonian liquid, like water, will not change shape, become slimy, or viscous no matter how much you stir it.
Glue is a polymer and if you leave it alone, it contains long chains of molecules that are untangled. They slide past each other, enabling the glue to be poured. However, when the glue molecules are cross-linked (bonded) with the borate ions from the contact lens solution, large molecules stick together and tangle up, making the resulting substance thick and sticky. The more sheer stress you add by playing with it, the thicker it becomes.
Eventually the slime won’t stick to the bowl or your fingers. However, if you leave it unattended for a long time, it will become stickier and liquidy again. The process of thickening and thinning (changing the viscosity) as a result of manipulation (sheer stress) is a trait of a non-Newtonian liquid.
Who knew? Slime can even make you smart!
Q: What’s your favorite way to play with slime?