Kids love to make homemade flubber slime! Our flubber slime is similar to our liquid starch slime recipe but it’s thicker, stretchier, and tougher. We love both slime and flubber for a fun science lesson or experiment. Make homemade flubber without borax powder in minutes! There are tons of tons of cool ways to play with science and STEM.

flubber recipePin

Make Flubber Without Borax Powder

What is flubber? Flubber is a super thick, super stretchy, super strong slime!

NOTE: This flubber recipe does not contain Borax powder. However, liquid starch does contain sodium borate which is part of the boron family. Please try one of our alternative recipes if you are allergic/sensitive to these ingredients. We have never experienced a skin reaction.

flubber recipePin

Basic Slime Recipes

Our easy, “how to make” slime recipes show you how to master slime in 5 minutes or less! We have spent years tinkering with our favorite basic slime recipes to make sure you can make the BEST slime every time!

We believe slime shouldn’t be disappointing or frustrating! That’s why we want to take the guesswork out of making slime!

  • Discover the best slime ingredients and get the right slime supplies the first time!
  • Make easy slime recipes that really work!
  • Achieve awesome slimy consistency the kids’ love!

Which Slime Recipe To Use?

We have several basic slime recipes that can all be used for this flubber slime recipe. You decide which one works best for you depending on what slime activator you want to use. This allows for some flexibility depending on where you live in the world! Not everyone has access to the same ingredients!

Each of the basic slime recipes below have the full step by step photos, directions, and even videos to help you along the way!

In the recipe below, we use our liquid starch slime recipe but with different quantities to create the thicker flubber slime.

Our homemade flubber recipe is super stretchy.Pin

Helpful Slime Making Resources To Get Your Started

These are the best resources to look through before, during, and after making your awesome flubber slime! We talk more about slime science below too.

A Bit Of Slime Science

We always like to include a bit of homemade slime science around here! Slime is an excellent chemistry demonstration and kids love it too! Mixtures, substances, polymers, cross-linking, states of matter, elasticity, and viscosity are just a few of the science concepts that can be explored with homemade slime!

What’s slime science all about? The borate ions in the slime activators (sodium borate, borax powder, or boric acid) mix with the PVA (polyvinyl acetate) glue and forms this cool stretchy substance. This is called cross-linking!

The glue is a polymer and is made up of long, repeating, and identical strands or molecules. These molecules with flow past one another keeping the glue in a liquid state. Until…

You add the borate ions to the mixture,  and it then starts to connect these long strands together. They begin to tangle and mix until the substance is less like the liquid you started with and thicker and rubbery like slime! Slime is a polymer.

Picture the difference between wet spaghetti and leftover spaghetti the next day. As the slime forms, the tangled molecule strands are much like the clump of spaghetti!

Is slime a liquid or solid?

We call it a non-Newtonian fluid because it’s a little bit of both! Experiment with making the slime more or less viscous with varying amounts of foam beads. Can you change the density?

Did you know that slime aligns with the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS)?

It does and you can use slime making to explore states of matter and its interactions. Find out more below…

Flubber Recipe

Try our traditional liquid starch slime recipe and compare the results. It uses similar ingredients in different amounts. Make sure to check out sand slime too!

SUPPLIES:

  • 1 cup PVA Washable Glue White
  • 1/2 Cup Water {room temperature}
  • 1/2 Cup Liquid Starch
  • Glitter or food coloring optional
Supplies for making flubber include Elmer's Washable School Glue, Liquid Starch, and Water!Pin

How To Make Flubber:

STEP 1:  Mix glue and water together in a container. Stir until it is well combined and a smooth consistency. Now is the perfect time to mix in color or glitter.

flubber recipe for kids with step by step.Pin

STEP 2:  Next, add  the liquid starch to the glue/water mixture. Start mixing with a spoon.

flubber recipe stepsPin

STEP 3: Switch to using your hands to combine the ingredients well. Keep mixing the flubber for a few minutes and kneading it well.

You can play with your flubber immediately or let it set up for about 15 mins or so.

Thick flubber for science and sensory playPin

How To Store Flubber

Store your flubber in a container with a lid, and it should keep for several weeks unless you have many hands playing with it. When it’s done, throw it away and make a new one with one of our many slime recipe ideas perfect for seasons and holiday!

This flubber recipe makes a huge pile! Squeeze it, squish it, pull it, test it’s super strength.

Thick flubber for science and sensory playPin

Fun Things To Do With Flubber

Homemade flubber, as well as other types of slime are great for building hand strength. You could add in some LEGO pieces for a treasure hunt slime or mini scrabble tiles for a letter hunt slime. They both make for interesting fine motor and literacy activities!

Or how about using our flubber or slime recipe to explore emotions! You can also make slime to go along with a favorite book!

Did you know that you can even blow flubber bubbles with this recipe?

Flubber science with homemade flubber recipe that's easy to make.Pin

More Fun Slime Recipes To Try

If your kids love playing with slime, why not try more favorite slime ideas…

Grab the Ultimate Slime Recipe Bundle

All the best homemade slime recipes in one place with plenty of fantastic extras!

  • The Ultimate Slime Guide contains all the specialty recipes you or your kids want to make! You’ll find all the best tips, tricks, hints, and slime-y info in almost 100 pages!
  • The Ultimate Slime Holiday Guide covers all the best holidays and seasons with special themes and slime-y projects!
  • The Ultimate Borax-FREE and Taste-Safe Slime Guide shows you how to make all the best borax-free, taste-safe, and non-toxic slimes kids love, such as marshmallow slime. These recipes do not use chemical activators such as saline solution, liquid starch, or borax powder, making them truly borax-free.
  • The Ultimate Slime Coloring Book is an easy-to-print coloring book kids will love! Color and design your favorite slimes!
  • The Slime Starter Guide is a fact-filled information guide with everything you need to know to make the best slime ever!

53 Comments

  1. I love making flubber with my students. It’s so fun and it is a great demonstration of a chemical change.
    ✿April✿
    Grade School Giggles

  2. Hi, is it possible to give sizes when you post, it says 2 bottles of glue and I can see they are small but can’t tell if they are 250 ml or 375 ml etc.
    Looking forward to trying the recipes.

  3. I can’t get past the dirty fingernails in the first photo (how to make Flubber). Did no one notice this when posting the picture. It’s terrible!

  4. I love this idea for my 5 hooligans but unfortunately we can’t get liquid starch here in England 🙁
    Do you happen to know what a good alternative for this ingredient is, that I can get in England?
    Thanks so much. Oh and I absolutely love all your ideas, as do my children! 🙂

  5. I love this recipe. I use it often in my class. It does fact have borax in the liquid starch though ..It is what causes the polymer reaction. I called the 800 number on the bottle just to ask. Sure enough, it has borax.. All liquid starches do.

  6. Did it continue to stick after it set for 5 minutes. Initially it will be sticky while mixing. Wash hands and it should be fine. Make sure you have the right measurements!

  7. Sorry you are offended. We are just a mom and a son having fun at home. Hope you don’t spend to much time during the day trying to keep your kids clean.

  8. This sounds fun – I just haven’t the faintest idea what the ingredients are! Can you describe the ingredients, so I might be able to find similar products in our local stores (in Denmark).

    Merry Christmas

    Jan

  9. I tried making using this recipe and the chemical reaction never happened. It was just a gluey mess. Can you tell me what might have happened???

  10. Hi! Well let’s see… Did you use Elmers Washable Glue? Did you mix glue with water first? How’s your liquid starch? Old? Did you give it a little shake to mix? Let me know and we can go from there.

  11. Hi,
    Liquid starch is a laundry detergent product or can be found in major craft stores. Elmer’s washable glue is a specific brand of glue that works well. Hope that helps. Take a look on Amazon for both products.

  12. How can you have any fun if your clean? 😉 I love the picture! It’s real 🙂 this world needs more real pics in it 🙂 good for you Mama!

  13. Thanks! I always know I am going to tack some flack for it. He’s 5 and he was actually still enough to get a photo!

  14. For some reason mine never became solid. Used washable glue, room temp water and liquid starch…

  15. Tried making this today and it was really stringy and pretty wet. Any ideas where I went wrong?

  16. Did you use Elmer’s washable school glue and liquid starch? If you grabbed the wrong glue it won’t work. 2 parts glue to one part liquid starch. Let me! Email me at [email protected] if you need more help.

  17. Do you know how much flubber this recipe will yield? Planning on making in my daughters class and need an idea how many batches we would need to make so each child could take some home. Thanks

  18. seriously?? I raised 3 happy, healthy boys-the last one was a preemie, now 18 and 190 lbs!! my hands were always dirty and so were they-its called, bath time-read book-go nite nite-happy kids

  19. borax/boron in Danish, or boric acid is the powder form (of the active ingredient you need to make the reaction happen) and you need only a tsp full or so with warm water to get the same reaction if you can not find liquid starch like here in the US> good luck! it’s really fun to play with. 🙂
    google a recipe with borax/boron if you can find that ingredient in Denmark. the glue is like a type of wood glue, we call it “kouelym” (in South Africa), it is just a washable version of wood glue. they have clear or solid white ones here in the USA.

  20. just a thought, i always drain a bit of the liquid off and end up with a pretty great consistency at the end. it’s stringy at first, but then become quite gooey like slime in the store. so hard to mess it up i think. even when you put the ingredients in backwards like i’ve done more than once… it still works out! 🙂 i love the big glitter you put in littlebins. really makes it look so amazing. i used it for valentines with some red glitter and googley eyes for “I only have EYES for you” in a little 2 oz condiment container for all the kids in school.

  21. you can google how to make liquid starch and it’s simply made with cornstarch and water so you don’t have to buy the other stuff.

  22. I am surprised. I have not had that happen. More glue? But I am not sure that will work. What typeof climate are you in?

  23. There’s definately a great deal to know about this topic.
    I love all the points you made.

  24. The fabric washing liquid from aldi works well and smells great.. Blue almat gel from Aldi

  25. Wow..rude! Obviously they were having fun and being creative..which obviously dirties your hands a bit..troll!

  26. It happens. Sometimes people forget that the people behind many of these blogs are just ordinary tired moms with high energy kids!

  27. Mine seperated after a few hours. It started out great but changed. The tub we kept it in was very watery, like the water seperated from the glue. It ended up being water and soft rubbery glue, not slime anymore. What did I do wrong? I think alot of people are using liquid starch like in starch mixed with water and not the detergent type liquid amd that is why it doesnt turn into slime.

  28. I followed the directions exactly and it’s a watery mess. My kids were disappointed! I even tried adding more corn starch……

  29. Hi for some reason I can’t see your whole comment. However, it looks like you are using corn starch instead of liquid starch? Please feel free to email me at [email protected] and I can try to help you out!

  30. It’s difficult to find gallons of glue, I underestimated for my 6 classes after ordering online,and would like to try making my own glu. Does that work?

  31. No in general homemade glue does not work and you should definitely not substitute other glues as the chemical reaction is unknown. I buy gallons of this glue off Amazon!

  32. Well you don’t want to use corn starch in place of liquid starch for this recipe.

  33. Pingback: Make Your Own Homemade Thinking Putty Recipe for Less!
  34. Pingback: DIY SLIME MAKING – tornado area

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