How to Make Slime with Elmer’s Glue And Borax
Materials:
2 Bottles of Elmer’s glue (5-6 oz each bottle)– Clear, Glitter Glue, or White Glue
½ – 1 tsp of Borax
1 cup hot water, ½ cup water
Big, wide bowl
Liquid watercolor or food coloring (optional)
Glitter (optional)
Confetti (optional)
Vinegar
Gloves
Need the perfect slime recipe. This slime recipe with borax is so inviting and calming. It is an inviting play recipe that will keep children busy for hours!
I recommend using two bottles because you want to get a perfect consistency of slime, and the second bottle is a backup. Make them one at a time though so that you can adapt the second one if necessary. Getting the perfect consistency the first time doesn’t always go so smoothly, so I like having the second bottle to make my slime completely perfect!
My favorite slime is made of clear glue or glitter glue (both Elmer’s). But Elmer’s white glue works as well. You are able to see through the clear glue or glitter glue, but white glue looks more like the substance many of us remember as silly putty.
Borax is available online, but it is much more affordable in the grocery stores. You will find it where cleaning detergents are located.
Bowl 1 – Water and Borax Mixture
Find a nice sized bowl. You will need to squish the slime in it, so make sure it is big and wide enough.
Mix one cup of hot water in the bowl with ½ tsp of borax. Dissolve completely.
You will want to hold onto this mixture, even after your slime is made! If you find that your slime is too stretchy or turns sticky after a few minutes of playing, you’ll be glad you didn’t dump this out!
Allow the borax and water to cool as you prep you the next step.
Bowl 2 – Glue and Water Mixture
Mix one container of Elmer’s glue (5-6 oz) with ½ cup of water. You won’t want to skip this step. The glue needs to be watered down and separated to prevent a slime fail. I find that a container with a pour spout is perfect for this.
Use a whisk to stir them together. You want it to be completely mixed, so this may take a few minutes.
Add a squirt of liquid watercolor or a few drops of food coloring. This is also when you want to stir in any glitter. Fine glitter will show up really small and make your slime glisten. Big glitter will add a pop of color and fun. Here is a gorgeous gold glitter slime from Fun at Home with Kids with the large glitter.
If you use Elmer’s glitter glue, which is already colored, you don’t have to use coloring or glitter. But you can add extra if you want more.
Combine the two!
Now it’s time to pour your glue mixture into the big bowl with the borax and water mixture.
Watch for a minute as the glue mixture starts to polymerize! It’s such a cool sight to see.
Then, start squishing the slime to help it absorb as much of the borax and water mixture as possible. Feel free to wear gloves or to stir with a spoon if you would prefer. I recommend that the adult does this part.
The slime will feel quite sticky or chunky for a minute or two but keep squishing, kneading, stirring, or mixing. Do this for two to three minutes.
Once it isn’t feeling sticky or chunky, pull it out and knead it some more.
Hopefully, you will have an amazing slime that is perfect to stretch, bend, and mold. Lastly, add any confetti to your slime. Here is our slime with a touch of snowflake confetti.
You can even jazz up your slime with some snowflakes or other confetti, plastic creatures, cookie cutters, or anything other fun play items. I avoid putting anything wood into slime, but there are so many other toys or craft materials you could use!
We love slime with silicone cupcake liners to make a cupcake station!
