The colors of the flag in our favorite July 4th slime! Beautiful shades of red, white, and blue mixed with star shaped confetti is a wonderful sensory treat and science activity for kids of all ages.

The process to make this July 4th slime is quick and easy with our homemade slime recipe. Enjoy a quick slime science lesson all while playing with a really cool substance.

HOW TO MAKE JULY 4th SLIME

4th of JULY SLIME RECIPE

This July 4th isn’t our first slime making holiday! We have been enjoying slime for close to 5 years now. Our homemade recipes are pretty much no fail as long as you follow the steps and use the best slime ingredients.

You can make perfect slime in 5 minutes or less. We will show you how to master your slime every time with our step by step slime making guides and slime videos!

4 BASIC SLIME RECIPES

We have experimented with and perfect 4 basic slime recipes that can be transformed over and over again into so many awesome themes for favorite holidays, occasions, and uniquely yours ideas!

Click on any of my 4 basic recipes below to see how to make each slime including a live video from start to finish! In the 4th of July slime video above we used the saline solution recipe, and in the pictures below, the liquid starch slime recipe.

Because not all ingredients are available in every part of the world, I encourage you to check out each recipe to see which one will work best for you.

SLIME MAKING SUPPLIES (Using Liquid Starch Recipe)

You will want to make one batch of slime per color!

White Elmer’s Washable School Glue

Clear Elmer’s Washable School Glue

Liquid Starch

Water

Food Coloring

Star Confetti

Bowl, Measuring Cups, and Spoon

Glitter Optional!

FREE Printable Recipe Cheat Sheet Below

MAKING JULY 4th SLIME

Now that you have your recipe of choice, I have a few hints for these particular colors…

I used a clear glue for both the red and the blue slimes and white glue for the white slime. Additionally, you can use clear glue for the “white” slime as seen in the video above.

To make the vivid colors you see below, you will want to add 5 or so drops of liquid food coloring to both the red and blue slimes.

Again you can decide on the colors you like! Mix in the coloring when you are mixing the water and glue. However if you wish you had added more food coloring, you can add it while you are mixing the slime. However, be prepared for tinted hands for a little while.

ALSO CHECK OUT: Ocean slime and video!

SCIENCE BEHIND THE HOMEMADE SLIME RECIPE

We always like to include a bit of homemade slime science around here. Slime really does make for 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 the science behind the slime? 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…

When you add the borate ions to the mixture, it 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 rubberier 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!

STORING YOUR SLIME

Inevitably, your 4th of July slime will mix together into a dark purply color. If you wish to save it…

Slime lasts quite awhile! I get a lot of questions regarding how I store my slime. We use reusable containers in either plastic or glass.

Make sure to keep your slime clean and it will last for several weeks. I love the deli style containers in my recommended slime supplies list here.

If you want to send kids home with a bit of slime from a camp, party, or classroom project, I would suggest packages of reusable containers from the dollar store or grocery store or even Amazon. For large groups we have used condiment containers as seen here.

ALSO CHECK OUT: Beach Sand Slime and Video!

Add your star shaped sequins to your slime and enjoy. We find white slimes are less viscous (thick) than slimes made with clear glue. The warmth of your hands really gets the slime moving.

Be patient when stretching slime. Don’t pull fast and hard! It will break. Instead pull slowly and gently for the stretchiest stretch.