Be my Valen-slimes! Valentine’s Day isn’t just for the adults! Around here we celebrate holidays and seasons with our homemade slime. For Valentine’s Day why not whip up a batch of Valentines Slime! Whether you try red glitter, confetti hearts, or pink slime, it’s a fun and easy science activity to do with kids.
VALENTINES SLIME SCIENCE AND PLAY FOR KIDS!
MAKING YOUR VALENTINES SLIME RECIPE
All of our holiday, seasonal, and everyday theme 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 always 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.
VALENTINES SLIME MAKING VIDEO: This shows our saline slime recipe in action for some pretty cool slime!
You can check out our awesome collection of Valentine’s Day slime recipes here! We even have a variety of printable slime container labels you can find at the bottom of the space!
WHAT IS SLIME?
Is it a liquid or a solid? It stretches but then it breaks. It makes a ball and bounces, feels slimy and wet, but it isn’t! These are some of the interesting observations my five year old made as we explored this slime recipe. Read a little more in depth here about polymers and chemistry.
THE SCIENCE BEHIND THE HOMEMADE VALENTINES SLIME RECIPE
What’s the science behind the slime? The borate ions in the slime activator {sodium borate, borax powder, or boric acid} mixes 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.
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!
Read more about slime science here!
SLIME SUPPLIES
For this exact we used the liquid starch recipe but the saline solution recipe and borax slime recipe will work fine too!
Clear glue (2) White Glue (1) Elmer’s Washable Glue works best!
Water
Measuring Cups (1/2 cup)
Red food coloring
Glitter and heart confetti
SLIME RECIPE: Choose which recipe you like the best! Click on the black boxes below to read more about each recipe and check the ingredients you have on hand!
MAKING YOUR VALENTINES SLIME
Once you have chosen your favorite slime recipe, it’s time to get started!
We made three different slimes to represent Valentine’s day! Add glitter and heart sequins to any of the slimes when mixing the glue and water together. Also add your favorite colors! You can get super creative with this part!
Any of our homemade slime recipes are very easy and quick to make! You could even try fluffy slime with a Valentines Day theme!
You can stretch stretch, pull, and really squeeze our homemade slime recipes!
Slime is fun to squeeze and watch ooze out of your hands or small bowl. Find a heart shaped dish! Check out our silvery Valentines slime batch and add it to little plastic hearts to give to friends.
We have enjoyed whipping up batches of slime often for a quick activity. Usually we leave it on the table and everyone who passes by has to stop and play with it.
STORING YOUR VALENTINES 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.
Make sure to check out our whole list of Valentine’s Day chemistry ideas!
Click on all the photos below for more awesome science and STEM ideas for the holidays and beyond.
14 DAY STEM COUNTDOWN FOR VALENTINES DAY!
FREE PRINTABLE SLIME LABELS
See the slime idea and print the labels. Click on photos.
Jill Willingham
Hi there! I would love to make this with my son’s kindergarten class…there are 21 kids….How many bottles of each material would I need for them each to take a sandwich bag with some slime home? THANKS
littlebins
Hi! You could probably get away with 7 bottles of glue and have each child take home a 1/3 of a batch. !/2 might be better so 11 bottles. 2 bottles of liquid starch would be fine and you might not even need to open the 2nd.
DeAnn
At daycare we used glue by the gallon, it’s cheaper in the long run if you have access to this, when making large amts.
Lisa
Love it
Rachel
Just wondering, I made your snow slime, and for some reason it was very thick- not stretchy at all. Could it be because we didn’t use Elmer’s Glue? It’s pretty hard to find where we live (overseas). I did follow the instructions about mixing it.
littlebins
Yes it is probably due to the different glue! You might try using less glue or a bit more starch. Thick is good though!
MARIE
where can you get liquid starch ???
littlebins
Grocery store laundry aisle for us or look for my link to Amazon at the end of the article!
teechurkids
Just be very careful not to let them get any in their hair it is very difficult to get out of hair with only access to a bathroom sick at school. Take it from me not once but twice two diffent occasions.
littlebins
Uh-oh!
Suzette
We had that happen and I used rubbing alcohol to get it out.
Denise Dyson
Hi. The slime looks great. Just wondering if its safe for toddlers who tend to put everything in their mouths? Are all liquid starch the same or some safer? Thanks
littlebins
No it is not safe at all.
Caroline
Is it hard to make I hàve never tried
littlebins
No we don’t think it is! I have used this recipe at least 40 times!
Carrie
I’m going to make this in my daughter’s 5th grade class for Valentine’s day. How much glitter or confetti did you put in each batch? I don’t need a full bottle of glitter for each batch do it? I think they will love this!
alyssa
I followed the recipe and mixing instructions but mine didnt quite turn out. Its thick, you said thick is good put you can stretch or pull it at all it just rips. and it leaks a lot. ive had to put a plate underneath my child when she plays to catch all the drainage and it fills up and needs to be emptied out after just 5min of play. also, i used small heart shaped beads in mine for valentines day but they dont stick to the slime they just all out when they surface. any suggestions on what i did wrong or what to try differently next time would be great. I love this idea and my kids do too! thanks
littlebins
What brand of glue did you use? What brand of starch or kind of starch? That will help me help you. Email me at [email protected] if you want more help!
Erika
We tried a test run last night and it worked perfectly- my question is where you found your condiment cups – I want to do this with my sons preschool class and prevalent samples to have them go home with on Valentine’s Day – yours look like a sturdier seal than what I am finding.
littlebins
I found my cups in the dollar store with all the kitchen gadgets!
Victoria horner
Do we need clear and white glue? I am making this for my sons class and i just wanted to be sure. Also, i cant seem to find the actual recipe, just a list of ingredients. Do you just mix it all and voila?
littlebins
You can use either. The colors of the slime will be different. You can get a nice pink slime using white glue and a brilliant red slime using clear glue!
Erika Ireland
Tried this over the past weekend and it worked perfectly, I plan to do it with my sons preschool class on Valentines Day, but I would like to know where you got the condiment cups and what size they where?
littlebins
Awesome! They will love it!
Brittany Nesbitt
I’m an infant/toddler teacher and really think the kids will love this, but my kids range from 12 months-22 months, would this still be safe for them? Obviously they are going to put it in there mouths for a couple seconds, but they’ll be supervised. But, it’s not toxic or harmful?
littlebins
NO this is not appropriate for kids in that age range. We do have taste safe slime recipes you can check out though. You may be better off with play doughs for a couple more years.
[email protected]
I wanted to stop by and thank you for all your helpful insight about slime. My son had an aversion to squishy slimy ‘stuff’ . He visited several of your slime related post and loved the pictures so much that they helped him conquer his aversion. He was missing all the fun. Now he likes playing with the slime. I wrote about our experience and shared your links. Thank you so much for helping out mommies like me!!
http://theafterschoolhouse.com/2017/02/12/dollar-store-valentines-day-slime/
Abbey
Hi Can you find liquid starch or laundry starch in the UK?
littlebins
I do onto believe that you can. Do you have saline solution? The ingredients you want to check for are boric acid and sodium borate. We have a fun recipe using saline solution!