The Best Homemade Slime Recipe for Young Kids
If you’re looking for a super fun sensory activity that’s simple to do at home with your children, you’re in the right place! Check out our favorite slime recipe here that’s easy and inexpensive to make. And it’s safe for young children!
Easy Fun with Homemade Slime
When my son found out that you could play with slime, there was no getting the idea out of his head. Luckily, my mom makes slime (or goo or flubber) with her preschoolers every year. So I wanted to share her best slime recipe with you!
Young child not only have a blast with slime, they also build fine motor skills. Let them explore new textures and feelings with this fun sensory experience!
Kids of all ages love the idea of slime, so jump right in with this slimy fun! And this easy recipe is perfect for everyone.
Easy Slime Recipe with Only 3 Ingredients
The best part about this slime is that there’s only a few inexpensive, easy-to-find ingredients. And your child will have lots of fun making their own slime with you!
Regular Slime Ingredients- Full Recipe
Here’s everything we used to make our easy recipe for basic slime:
- 1 1/2 cup warm water
- 2 cups white glue (we used Elmer’s glue)
- 1 1/3 cup warm water
- 3 teaspoons borax powder
- OPTIONAL: food coloring
For the mixing, you’ll also need a measuring cup, mixing spoon or spatula, and large mixing bowl or aluminum pan like we found at the dollar store.
Try Glitter Glue
For a fun twist on this homemade slime recipe, try using glitter glue instead of white glue! This provides a fun color contrast without even using food coloring. My son likes to call this glitter slime his ‘unicorn slime’.
Add In Texture
Another fun way to enhance this sensory play for young children is to add bits of texture into your slime ingredients. Try adding things like rice, sprinkles, beads, or uncooked pasta. For the best results, keep the objects small.
Step-by-Step Instructions for Making Your Slime
Once you’ve gathered all the slime ingredients and mixing tools, you’re ready to make your slime! Make sure to follow these easy steps before just mixing everything at once.
1. Glue Mixture
First, mix together glue with 1 1/2 cup of water. Next, add a few drops of food coloring to this mixture as your or your child stirs. Make sure all the glue is dissolved in the water.
2. Borax Mixture
Next, in a different bowl or large measuring cup, mix the borax powder with 1 1/3 cup of water. Stir until the borax has completely dissolved.
3. Combine Mixtures
Then, slowly stir the borax mixture into the glue mixture. You’ll feel it start to thicken up, and your may have to mix with your hands.
Mix until you don’t feel any borax powder. There may still be water in the bottom of the pan that you can just pour out.
4. Let the Slime Rest
Lastly, let the slime mixture rest in the bowl or pan for a few minutes before playing with it. This will help it firm up and absorb the liquid a little bit.
Safety Tips
We encourage you to let your child help you mix and play with the slime using bare hands, but please be aware that borax can cause mild skin irritation in children with sensitive skin. It’s a good idea to wash your hands well after mix and playing with the slime.
And this slime should not be ingested. Always have adult supervision while playing with the slime.
How To Store Homemade Slime
If you want to save your slime and use it for a long time, you’ll need to keep it in an airtight container. We keep ours in a large plastic bag, but a plastic container will also work well.
Slime for Babies!
When my one-year old saw her brother playing with slime, she of course wanted to play, too. But we didn’t want her to get any in her mouth, so we let her play with it in a large plastic bag.
And she still have so much fun while building fine motor skills!
Check out all these fun ideas for activities like this adapted for babies.
Slime Time!
Get ready for tons of fun with this fun slime recipe! Slime is an awesome way to get in some messy play for your kids which is great for their development. The gooey texture is also great for sensory play!
Try More Sensory Play
If you’re looking for even more great ways to incorporate sensory play with your child, check out this super simple sensory activity that children absolutely love! Read about it here.
Sensory Play with Less Mess
Or if slime is too intimidating because of the mess, try this fun activity to get used to sensory play. There’s much less mess, and young children get used to sensory play.
