Super EASY Slime Recipe With Just 2 Ingredients!

Krystal DeVille

This is perhaps the most classic science experiment that kids love – making slime.

I honestly can’t believe in the two years since starting STEM Education Guide, and I haven’t once done a slime recipe!

I was looking for some quick 5-minute science experiments we could do, and this easy slime recipe was the answer.

All you need is borax, glue, and water (so technically it requires 3 ingredients, including the water.)

You can make as little or as much slime as you want – you just need to know the correct ratio, which we’ll cover below too. If you’d like more STEM activity ideas, make sure to grab my FREE eBook on 25 STEM activities here.

Easy Slime Recipe

This recipe will make you a good handful size of slime! We used a lot of food coloring to make it this green – about 20 drops. But for a less vibrant slime, use as little or as much food coloring as you want

Ingredients

  • 1 teaspoon of borax*
  • 1 cup of warm water, divided
  • 1/2 cup of white Elmer’s Glue**
  • food coloring (optional)

*Note: You can find Borax in the laundry detergent aisle of most grocery stores. Read below for more information about using borax.

**Note: I’ve tried making slime with generic brands of glue. It seems like they must use different ingredients because I don’t always get the same results as I do with Elmer’s glue!

Steps

  1. Create your borax mixture by dissolving 1 teaspoon of borax into a 1/2 cup of warm water.
  2. In a separate bowl, create your glue mixture by mixing 1/2 cup of glue with 1/2 cup of warm water. Be sure to mix this thoroughly.
  3. Combine the borax mixture and glue mixture into a bowl and begin stirring immediately. Once the glue and borax combine, you’ll see the slime start forming instantly! If the slime is still sticky, keep kneading it until it’s fully mixed.

Slime Ratio: How much borax do you use?

If you want to make a big batch of slime or make it in smaller quantities with different colors, it all comes down to the ratio of borax to glue.

First, you always make your glue mixture by combining equal parts of glue and water. For example, in our recipe, we used 1/4 cup of warm water and a 1/4 cup of glue.

Then you make your borax mixture. The borax mixture should be 1 teaspoon of borax per 1/2 cup of water.

The more borax you use, the firmer your slime will be. (Check out our DIY bouncy ball experiment where we use a lot more borax to create a firmer substance for the ball.)

If you want it to be really runny slime, use less borax. Our photos show slime using these exact portions, and I think it turned out perfect! It’s the perfect mix of stretchy goo without running all over the place. (And it wasn’t sticky at all from the glue!)

Then you mix the two mixtures together. It will be equal parts of the glue mixture and equal parts borax mixture.

Science Behind the Slime

Slime is a non-Newtonian liquid. This means that its viscosity (or ability to flow) is not constant. Examples of non-Newtonian liquids include custard, ketchup, and of course, slime!

Simply, the slime forms when chemicals are mixed and form polymers.

Polymers are materials made of long repeating chains of molecules. Polymers are all around us! They can form naturally, like in proteins, or artificially, like in plastics (or slime!)

A great way to add some critical thinking to this project is testing different quantities of borax with the scientific method.

What happens when you use more or less borax in your mixture?

Is it safe to use borax in slime?

There’s a lot of concern about if these DIY slime recipes with borax. I did a good amount of research on this, and I think this article from Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin is the best answer I’ve found.

In short, you should be with your kids when making this slime. Do not leave kids unsupervised with the borax or borax mixture. Borax can not be ingested and can cause skin irritation when handled undiluted.

However, once the slime is made, the borax is diluted and poses little risk. If you or your kids of sensitive skin, you may want to look for slime recipes without borax.

Let us know what you think of this easy slime recipe! We’d love to see your own creations too. Tag your slime creations on instagram at @stemeducationguide.

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