My biggest reader question is always what are the best ingredients for slime? Are you unsure of the ingredients you need for homemade slime recipes? Do you struggle locating the right slime supplies? You can pick up the BEST slime ingredients on your next trip to the grocery store. So when you make your grocery list this week, add in our slime recipes and the best ingredients for making them!
BEST SLIME INGREDIENTS FOR MAKING HOMEMADE SLIME!
You can DEFINITELY make homemade slime with the kids this season. It is not hard at all, and we have tons of videos, tutorials, and tips to share with you. At the bottom you will lots of clickable resources.
It might take a little practice and a little tweaking from what we do, but it should be pretty spot on. I receive tons of emails and comments from readers so happy to have finally been able to make slime with their kids!
THE RIGHT INGREDIENTS FOR THE BEST SLIME EVERY TIME!
Making slime is really all about having the right slime ingredients! I do get slime failure questions. Many of these failures are simply because the right slime ingredients weren’t used! Substitutions don’t work
WHAT ARE THE INGREDIENTS FOR SLIME THAT YOU REALLY NEED?
What ingredients do you need to make slime? There are 3 key slime activator ingredients to our 3 basic slime recipes {liquid starch, borax, and saline slimes}.
There are tons of ways to make alternative slimes that include fiber slime, taste safe slime, and cornstarch slime, but these won’t give you the unique texture that you get with the classic slime recipes.
In order to understand why the right slime ingredients are so important, you need to understand the science behind the slime!
HOMEMADE SLIME SCIENCE
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!
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!
Read more about slime science here!
BEST SLIME INGREDIENTS
There are 3 main ingredients for slime that I will talk about below. Water is an essential ingredient as well! Baking soda is an important addition to saline solution slime and fluffy slime. It is necessary for the activator to fully work.
For more awesome slimy supplies and fun mix-ins, see our RECOMMENDED SLIME SUPPLIES. You will also find our favorite storage options.
SLIME RECIPE GLUE
From what you read above, the right type of glue is very important and the foundation for a good slime recipe. You want to look for a washable PVA based glue which is usually also listed as school glue.
Our choices usually include Elmer’s brand of washable school glues {see recommended supply list here}. Clear, white, and glitter are all good choices. Now many of you might not have access to Elmer’s so I would make sure you are finding that PVA based glue {polyvinyl-acetate}.
SLIME ACTIVATORS
Each of our 3 basic slime recipes uses a different slime activator. The slime activator is the key ingredient that when mixed with the PVA glue causes the specific chemical reaction that produces your slimey texture. If you don’t have the right slime activator, you don’t have slime.
Let’s talk a minute about slime activators, none of them are borax free. That’s right! Slime recipes are NOT completely borax free. Each of the popular slime activators that you see in all of those recipes will have at least one ingredient from the boron family.
Liquid starch’s key ingredient is sodium borate. Saline solution usually has two key ingredients including sodium borate and boric acid {yours might also just list one of these}. Borax powder is borax.
It’s up to you to decide what you want to use, but I have seen a lot of sites claim that recipes using saline solution and liquid starch are borax free. This is NOT true 99% of the time.
LIQUID STARCH SLIME
To make our homemade liquid starch slime recipe {which is super easy to make}, you need a bottle of liquid starch. This can be purchased in the laundry detergent aisle of your grocery store, big box store, and even online if necessary.
SALINE SOLUTION SLIME
The saline solution slime recipe trips people up the most because of the variety of saline solutions out there. This slime is the new popular slime in our recipe collection. It’s a good slime for UK slime recipes as well as Canadian slime recipes.
When you are looking for your saline solution, make sure the ingredients include sodium borate and boric acid. I can’t write it enough! You need these key ingredients for making good slime. My favorite brand of solution is actually Target Brand!
BORAX SLIME
This is your most classic and most controversial slime recipe, and it requires a box of borax powder. I know that in Canada and the UK this is not a popular ingredient. Listen to Steve Spangler discuss borax in a video on Facebook.
This slime ingredient can easily be found in the laundry detergent aisle as well.
THE BEST SLIME INGREDIENTS FOR AWESOME SLIME EVERY TIME!
MORE SLIME RECIPE RESOURCES!
Everything you need to know about making slime is below! Did you know we also have fun with science activities too? Click on all the pictures below to learn more. 
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