Make Glow in the Dark Slime! This week we tackled this slime making challenge to bring you a cool glowing slime recipe the kids will love. We used our super easy saline solution recipe and added a glow powder for some super glowing slime that doesn’t even need a black light. Making homemade slime is an awesome activity for kids.

HOW TO MAKE GLOW IN THE DARK SLIME WITH KIDS!

If you have been wanting to make glow in the dark slime, now’s the perfect time because we have the perfect glowing slime recipe to share with you. You do need a special powder to add to your slime recipe, but you don’t need a black light. This slime just needs to charge in the sun for a bit! I will tell you that we tried glow in the dark paint from the craft store, and while it worked a little bit, we definitely didn’t get the cool glow like we did from using the powder. If you are going to make and take your slime into a dark room, I highly suggest keeping it on a tray to avoid getting it on furniture, bedding, or rugs!

MAKE GLOW IN THE DARK SLIME RECIPE

All of our  slimes use one of our 4 basic slime recipes that are super easy to make! We make slime all the time, and these have become our go-to favorite slime making recipes. I will let you know which recipe we used in our photographs, but I will also tell you which of the other basic recipes will work too! Usually you can interchange several of the recipes depending on what you have for slime supplies. Make sure to read through our recommended slime supplies and print out a slime supplies checklist for your next trip to the store. After the supplies listed below you will see click here black boxes for slime recipes that will work with this theme.

GLOW IN THE DARK SLIME RECIPE SUPPLIES

Clear Washable PVA School Glue Saline Solution (must contain sodium borate and boric acid as ingredients) Water Glow Powder (see Amazon commission links below for what we tried) Baking Soda Bowl/Spoon/Measuring Cups and Spoons GET YOUR SLIME RECIPE! Each of our basic slime recipes, that we use for all of our seasonal, unique, and holiday slimes, have their own complete slime making page. This way you can see a complete page dedicated to making the specific slime! NOTE: To make glow in the dark slime you can also check out the full recipe below! We used our favorite, super stretchy and fun, saline solution slime recipe. Click on the box below to see a cool video of the slime being made! Make sure to grab your FREE slime recipe cheat sheet below and check out how we make this glow in the dark slime.  

Click Here To Download FREE Printable

  Follow along with the pictures and check out the steps below!

HOW TO MAKE GLOW IN THE DARK SLIME STEPS

• Add 1/2 cup of clear washable PVA school glue to a bowl.
• Mix glue with 1/2 cup of water.
• Stir in 1/2 tsp of baking soda (adds firmness to the slime)
• Add 1/2 tablespoon of glow powder and mix well.
• Next add 1 tablespoon of saline solution (slime activator)
• Stir slime well until it pulls away easily from sides and bottom of bowl!

TIP: Once you have thoroughly mixed slime with a spoon, sprinkle a few drops of saline solution on your hands. Now you can easily knead your glowing slime either in the bowl or out of the bowl for a few minutes. It will be very stretchy!

STORING YOUR GLOW IN THE DARK SLIME

I get a lot of questions regarding how I store my slime. Usually we use a reusable container either plastic or glass. If you keep your slime clean it will last for several weeks. And…if you forget to store your slime in a container, it does actually last a few days uncovered. If the top gets crusty just fold it into itself. 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. For large groups we have used condiment containers as seen here. THE SCIENCE BEHIND THE HOMEMADE SLIME RECIPE What’s the science behind the glowing slime? It all starts with a special chemical reaction. The borate ions in the slime activator  {sodium borate, borax powder, or boric acid} mix with the PVA {polyvinyl-acetate} glue and form 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. 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 is thicker and rubberier like slime! 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!

WHAT MAKES GLOW IN THE DARK SLIME GLOW?

The glow in the powder is from phosphorescent crystals. This powder absorbs light and then gives off the lovely glow over a length of time (before needing to be recharged). This glow occurs when electrons absorb energy from light, so make sure to find a sunny place. When you play with your glow in the dark slime is a dark place, these same electrons produce a glow which is energy in the form of light we can see. There isn’t a chemical reaction that occurs except for the slime making process. Read more about slime science here!

HERE’S SOME MORE SLIME MAKING RESOURCES!

You will find everything you ever wanted to know about making homemade slime right here, and if you have questions, just ask me!

Did you know we also have fun with  science activities too? We also love to experiment with all kinds of simple to set up science experiments and STEM activities.  Click on all the black boxes below to learn more.