Be my Valen-slimes with gooey heart theme slime! 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! Add our FREE printable slime labels and you have a perfect make and take Valentine. Whether you try red glitter, confetti hearts, or pink slime, it’s a fun and easy activity to do with kids.
HOW TO MAKE VALENTINES SLIME!
EASY VALENTINES SLIME
Our hearts are oozing with love for this Valentines Day Slime. Learning how to make Valentines slime is much simpler than you might think. This Valentines theme slime is perfectly festive for the special occasion. We love our Valentines Day Science Activities.
Slime making is even more fun when you add in creative themes for special occasion days like Valentine’s Day. We have quite a few slime ideas to share, and we are always adding more. Our Homemade Valentine’s Day Slime Recipe is yet another AMAZING slime recipe we can show you how to make.
OUR HOMEMADE BASIC SLIME RECIPES ARE THE SLIME RECIPES YOU NEED TO LEARN HOW TO MAKE!
VALENTINES SLIME CHEMISTRY FOR KIDS
Read all about the terrific chemistry behind the slime! Our post is great for introducing young kids to the wonderful world of polymers and contains some useful information and resources for the older kids too. You can also read more on the science below.
We always like to include a bit of homemade slime science too, and that’s perfect for exploring Valentine’s Day STEM. 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 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…
SLIME IS A NON-NEWTONIAN FLUID
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! Experiment with making the slime more or less viscous with varying amounts of foam beads. Can you change the density?
Read more about slime science here!
FUN VALENTINES SLIME IDEAS
We made this Valentines Day slime with clear glue and white glue, food coloring, glitter and confetti hearts. However, there are so many variations to try!
Come up with your own favorite Valentines theme slimes:
- Try adding a cup of foam beads to the recipe for a floam slime. Make a batch in green and a batch in red. Use heart shaped cookie cutters to make floam hearts. See it here!
- Try kneading in an ounce or two of soft clay after your slime is made for a butter slime (see it here). Make a batch in red and pink!
- Make it fluffy! Swirling fluffy slime in theme colors. See it here.
If you want to see what else you can mix into slime and how to make awesome slime ideas all year round, check out our Ultimate Slime Guide Book. It’s the perfect accessory and comes with some great slime freebies as well!
VALENTINES SLIME TIPS
The base for this Valentines theme slime uses one of our most basic slime recipes which is clear glue or white glue, water, baking soda, and saline solution.
Now if you don’t want to use saline solution, you can absolutely test out one of our other basic recipes using liquid starch or borax powder. We have tested all three recipes with equal success!
Our easy, “how to make” slime recipes will show you how to master slime in 5 minutes! We have spent years tinkering with our 4 now 5 favorite basic slime recipes to make sure you can make the BEST slime every time!
We believe learning how to make 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 fluffy slime recipes that really work!
- Achieve awesome squishy, slimy consistency the kids’ love!
We have the best resources to look through before, during, and after making your Valentines slime! Make sure to go back and read the slime science above too!
- BEST Slime Supplies
- How To Fix Slime: Troubleshooting Guide
- Slime safety Tips for Kids and Adult
- How To Remove Slime from Clothes
- Master Your Slime Training Series
VALENTINES SLIME SUPPLIES AND INGREDIENTS
As I mentioned above, you can use any of our basic slime recipes for our Grinch slime ideas, but we like our basic saline solution slime recipe with the Elmers clear washable school glue. I will link the products we used here with Amazon affiliate links below from which I receive a small commision.
CLICK HERE >>>Look at all our Valentines Slime Recipes.
SUPPLIES NEEDED FOR SALINE SOLUTION SLIME
I always encourage my readers to read through the recommended slime supplies list before making slime. Learn how to stock your pantry with the best slime-gredients.
1/2 cup of Elmer’s Clear Glue per slime batch
1/2 tsp baking soda per slime batch
Food Coloring, Glitter, Confetti Hearts
1 tbsp of Saline Solution per slime batch
Grab Your FREE Slime Supplies Pack Here
VALENTINES SLIME RECIPE DIRECTIONS BELOW
This fun slime activity calls for one batch of our easy Valentines slime recipe. You can make more or less depending on your color or theme ideas! The best slime recipe starts with the right slime ingredients. Make sure to follow along with our measurements.
Start by adding your glue and water to a bowl and grab a mixing utensil. Mix it up and add food coloring and glitter as desired!
Check out our Valentine’s Day STEM activities for many more ideas this month!
BEST SLIME ACTIVATORS
Add in your slime activator (baking soda and saline solution) to complete the chemical reaction you read about above in the science behind the slime section. If you scrolled past it, go back and read it with your kids!
What does the baking soda do? It adds the firmness the mixture needs so you can pick it up. This ingredient is a great variable to tinker with for a science experiment!
You can also learn more about all our favorite slime activators here. Keep in mind that liquid starch, saline solution, and borax powder are all in the boron family. Neither of these ingredients is truly borax free.
SALINE SLIME RECIPE
STEP 1: Add 1/2 cup of clear Elmer’s Glue to your bowl
STEP 2: Mix with a 1/2 cup of water
STEP 3: Add food coloring, glitter, and red confetti hearts as desired
STEP 4: Stir in 1/4- 1/2 tsp baking soda
STEP 5: Mix in 1 tbsp saline solution and stir until slime forms and pulls away from sides of the bowl. This is exactly how much you will need with the Target Sensitive Eyes brand, but other brands may differ slightly!
If your slime still feels too sticky, you may need a few more drops of saline solution
. As I mentioned above, start by squirting a few drops of the solution onto your hands and kneading your slime longer. You can always add but you can’t take away. Saline solution is preferred over contact solution.
NOTE: We have found that the Elmers specialty glues tend to be a bit stickier than their regular glue, and we prefer our 2 ingredient slime recipe for this glue.
Use our “How To Fix Your Slime” guide if you are having trouble and make sure to watch my live start to finish slime video here.
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!
OUR TOP SLIME RECIPE IDEAS YOU NEED TO MAKE!
BASIC SLIME SCIENCE KIDS CAN UNDERSTAND!
WATCH OUR AMAZING SLIME VIDEOS
BEST INGREDIENTS FOR MAKING SLIME!
THE AMAZING BENEFITS THAT COME OUT OF SLIME MAKING WITH KIDS!
If you want to do something a little more than cutting out paper hearts this Valentine’s Day, try making our homemade slime instead. Host a slime party and give out slime party favors! Kids love slime.
STORING YOUR VALENTINES SLIME
Slime lasts quite a while! 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.
VALENTINES SLIME FOR KIDS’ SCIENCE AND TREATS
Click on the photo below for more awesome Valentines Day STEM activities to try with your kids.
Jill Willingham
January 29, 2015 at 7:10 pmHi 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
January 30, 2015 at 1:26 amHi! 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
February 3, 2015 at 5:39 pmAt 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
February 1, 2015 at 3:33 pmLove it
Rachel
February 1, 2015 at 10:04 pmJust 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
February 5, 2015 at 2:22 pmYes it is probably due to the different glue! You might try using less glue or a bit more starch. Thick is good though!
MARIE
February 5, 2015 at 3:53 amwhere can you get liquid starch ???
littlebins
February 5, 2015 at 2:20 pmGrocery store laundry aisle for us or look for my link to Amazon at the end of the article!
teechurkids
February 8, 2015 at 1:56 amJust 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
December 3, 2015 at 1:09 pmUh-oh!
Suzette
January 28, 2016 at 1:35 pmWe had that happen and I used rubbing alcohol to get it out.
Denise Dyson
February 12, 2015 at 9:50 amHi. 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
December 2, 2015 at 5:38 pmNo it is not safe at all.
Caroline
February 8, 2016 at 4:44 pmIs it hard to make I hàve never tried
littlebins
February 9, 2016 at 8:46 amNo we don’t think it is! I have used this recipe at least 40 times!
Carrie
February 10, 2016 at 12:10 pmI’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
February 13, 2016 at 4:57 pmI 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
February 21, 2016 at 10:15 amWhat 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
January 30, 2017 at 9:47 pmWe 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
February 1, 2017 at 8:47 pmI found my cups in the dollar store with all the kitchen gadgets!
Victoria horner
January 31, 2017 at 10:01 amDo 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
January 31, 2017 at 1:02 pmYou 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
January 31, 2017 at 11:55 pmTried 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
February 1, 2017 at 9:20 amAwesome! They will love it!
Brittany Nesbitt
February 9, 2017 at 10:08 amI’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
June 29, 2017 at 8:18 amNO 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]
February 12, 2017 at 2:32 pmI 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
March 10, 2018 at 6:15 amHi Can you find liquid starch or laundry starch in the UK?
littlebins
March 10, 2018 at 11:15 amI 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!