Homemade slime recipe made with only 3 ingredients! Only takes a few minutes to make and will entertain your kids for hours!
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How do you Make Homemade Slime?
When it comes to kid’s crafts, homemade slime is one of the best ideas! It’s easy, quick and super inexpensive. My kids always have SO much fun playing with it!
Do you remember Gak? I remember playing with that stuff as a kid and LOVED it. I recently came across this slime recipe and knew I had to make some for my kids. It is very similar to gak. They literally played with it all afternoon and had so much fun!
This is a fun craft to do for an indoor activity. I know we will be making this slime recipe plenty of more times throughout the year. The best part is, it only cost about $1 to make! Seriously, my kids couldn’t get enough of this stuff. It is a little messy, so make sure to lay down a plastic tablecloth (a trash bag works too) so the slime doesn’t get on the table.
This is the best slime recipe because it comes together so quickly and only takes 3 main ingredients (plus food coloring if desired). Have fun with it!
Slime Ingredients
- 8-ounce bottle Elmer’s white school glue
- 1 1/2 – 2 Tablespoons contact saline solution, more as needed (or slime activator)
- 1 Tablespoon baking soda
- Food coloring, optional
How to Make Homemade Slime
Add glue and food coloring to bowl. Squeeze the bottle of glue into a bowl (photo 1). Add your food coloring if desired, and stir until combined. Then mix in baking soda (photo 2).
Mix in saline solution. Add 1 1/2 Tablespoons saline solution and mix until combined (photo 3). If it’s too sticky, add 1/2 Tablespoon more solution at a time. The more you add, the thicker it’ll be. The less you add, the slimier it’ll be (see texture in photo 4).
Knead the slime. Using your hands, knead the slime until it holds together. It will be wet and gooey at first, but just keep kneading until it all comes together.
Store slime. Store slime in a container with lid, or in a zip top bag. The slime is best to play with on a place mat.
Tips for Making Slime
- Use plastic bowls and spoons to make clean up easier.
- Make sure to get the color correct before adding the saline. It’s harder to mix in when it begins to thicken.
- For thicker slime, add more saline solution. For a slimier texture, add less saline.
- Slime is best to play with on a place mat, plastic tablecloth or even a trash bag.
- Can add in extras like glitter, scented oils or even mini styrofoam balls.
- Recipe makes about a cup of slime. Can double or triple based on how many kids there are.
- If you have long hair, make sure to put it into a pony tail. If a little slime gets in your hair, simply rub some coconut oil or olive oil on top and comb it out.
Frequently Asked Questions
To make homemade slime, combine a bottle of glue, a Tablespoon of baking soda and slime activator or saline solution. Knead until smooth and stretchy.
1. Bottle of glue
2. 1 Tablespoon baking soda
3. 2 Tablespoons of contact solution or slime activator
Variations
This slime recipe is perfect for making fun variations like a fluffy slime or my butter slime recipe! It’s super easy to customize and add mix-ins like different food coloring dyes, glitter, scented oils or even mini styrofoam balls.
It’s especially fun to make different holiday variations, like the orange and green Halloween slime below. We put it in these hefty quart size bags and drew monster faces on for a fun Halloween activity. My kids loved the different colors and are already begging to make blue and pink!
More Slime Recipes and Kids Activities
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Slime Recipe
Video
Equipment
- Plastic bowl and spoon.
- Ziptop bag for storing.
- Place mat for enjoying slime.
Ingredients
- 8 ounce bottle Elmer’s white school glue
- 1 Tablespoon baking soda
- 1 ½ – 2 Tablespoons contact saline solution or slime activator , more as needed
Optional: Food coloring
Instructions
- Place glue in a bowl. If you're adding food coloring, add it now until desired color is reached. Then mix in baking soda.
- Add 1 1/2 Tablespoons saline solution or slime activator and mix until combined. Add 1/2 Tablespoon more at a time if it is too sticky. The more you add, the thicker it'll be. The less you add, the slimier it will be.
- Stir until you can no longer stir and then kneed with your hands. It will be sticky at first, but keep moving it with your hands until it is no longer sticky and desired consistency is reached.
- Pull apart and have fun playing. Store in a covered container or ziptop bag. Best to play with on a place mat.
Notes
- Use plastic bowls and spoons to make clean up easier.
- It’s best if your saline solution contains boric acid and sodium borate
- Make sure to get the color correct before adding the saline. It’s harder to mix in when it begins to thicken.
- For thicker slime, add more saline solution. For a slimier texture, add less saline.
- Recipe makes about a cup of slime. Can double or triple based on how many kids there are.
- Food coloring
- Scented oils
- Glitter
- Mini styrofoam balls
Did you make this recipe? Don’t forget to give it a star rating below!
Categorized as: DIY
Jamielyn Nye is the founder and recipe creator at I Heart Naptime. She is the author of the I Heart Naptime Cookbook and shares easy family-friendly recipes and desserts for every occasion.
We had the same problem of it instantly separating with heaps of water, I wonder if a tablespoon is too much baking soda? But clever kid kept mucking around with it and discovered that warm water helped recover it 😁
So glad you could make it work!
The recipe says 8oz glue but the picture includes a 4 oz bottle? Is the recipe for two bottles?
You will need 8 ounces of glue as indicated by the recipe card.
I’ve used many slime recipes and this is the best!
So happy to hear you love the slime Ginny!
This recipe sucks…specify the saline solution needs to have a specific ingredient..juss wasted a bunch of glue
Sorry to hear that it didn’t turn out as intended. Based on feedback, we have adjusted notes in the recipe card to indicate that it will turn out best with a saline that includes boric acid and sodium borate.
Sorry to be rating it 2 stars for now. Like another person, KH, who comment the slime was a soupy mess, ours did too. I did some more research and found out the multi-purpose saline solution I had bought didn’t contain the right active ingredient, boric acid. Could you specify in your recipe that the saline solution must contain this ingredient to work? Simply adding this in brackets next to the listed item would help immensely. This will help folks living in different places having to buy different brands of solution. Thanks!
Thanks for the feedback!
it’s slay
So glad you found it amazing! thanks for the review.
Can I thin it out a bit after the solution was added? Its a little too tough
Unfortunately it’s harder to thin out once it’s already thickened. I like to add the solution slow and steady.