Slime Fun
Spring is a great time to make slime outside.
Be sure to make the recipe on a Clean, Outdoor Space, like a porch.
It will pick up dirt.
These two recipes are easy to make and can provide hours of fun.
I will add more tried and true recipes in the following days.
Elmer's Glue is great, but Amazon's works just as well, and you can save a few dollars.
The easiest activator to use is Contact Solution. Check the ingredients of your contact solution and make sure that it contains a mix of sodium borate and boric acid.
Basic Slime Recipe
½ Cup (4 fl oz) White School Glue
1/2 tbsp of baking soda
1 tbsp of contact lens solution as activator
Your choice of food coloring (Parents help here. Only a drop or two is needed. Overusing food coloring can end in a big mess.)
- Add glue and food coloring to bowl. Squeeze the bottle of glue into a bowl. I like to use a large bowl to help keep all the ingredients inside.
- Add baking soda and stir with spoon or popscicle stick.
- Mix in saline solution and stir until able to use your hands.
- Knead the slime. Using your hands, knead the slime until it holds together. If slime is sticking to your child's hands, spray a little contact lens solution on their hands.
- Store slime in plastic container.
SLime with Equal Parts Glue to Water
½ cup glue
½ cup water
½ teaspoon baking soda
Food coloring
1 tablespoon saline
Same directions as above, but add water after glue.
What to do with slime?
- Mix in glitter or small objects.
- Make different colors.
- Make different recipes. I will post more recipes, including edible slime, in the coming days.
- Work the slime and form bubbles. Blow into the slime with a straw and make bubbles.
- Put it away to play with another time.
How does Slime work?
The glue has long flexible molecules in it called polymers. These polymer molecules slide past each other as a liquid.
Borax in water forms an ion called the borate ion. When the borax solution is added to the glue solution, the borate ions help link the long polymer molecules to each other so they cannot move and flow as easily.
When enough polymer molecules get hooked together in the right way, the glue solution changes from being very liquidy to a rubbery kind of stuff that we call slime!