How to make slime

To start you off we’ve come up with a few ideas: green alien slime, mermaid glitter gloop from a faraway deep-blue sparkly lagoon and marbled unicorn slime.

This slime makes the perfect sensory toy and is safe for little hands to make but do remember that it isn’t edible, so keep an eye on youngsters.

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For more hands-on crafts, see how to make slime, salt dough, oobleck and moon sand with affordable ingredients and easy steps.

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See our Kid's Kitchen series for essential cookery skills, plus easy recipes kids can make and kids summer baking projects.

Browse our family & kids hub for plenty of inspiration.

Slime recipe

This method makes a ball of flexible slime close to silly putty in texture. It stays clean in your hands, making it a good choice for little kids. If you want your slime gloopier and more stringy, see the troubleshooter below.

Makes 1 small ball
Takes 10 minutes

100ml PVA white glue (children’s craft glue or CE marked glue)
½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
gel food colouring
1-3 tsps contact lens cleaning solution (must contain boric acid)
glitter (optional)

1. Squeeze the glue into a mixing bowl (look for a bottle in a 100ml size if possible so you won’t have to measure it out). Add the bicarbonate of soda and mix well.

2. Add a drop or two of your chosen gel food colouring. Less colouring gives a pastel colour; the more you add, the brighter the colour. Mix until well incorporated.

3. Add 1 tsp contact lens solution and mix really well for a minute. Initially it will look like watery glue but as you keep mixing it will begin to turn to slime. You may need to add up to 2 tsp more contact lens solution – add it gradually until the texture changes. Once the slime begins to form, keep mixing and it will go stringy before coming away clean from the bowl into a ball.

4. Once it has formed, take it out and knead it in the bowl with your hands. It will be very sticky at first but after about a minute or so you’ll have a smooth and pliable ball and it should come away clean from your hands. Add glitter at this point, if desired, and work in with your hands. Store in a pot with a lid.

Slime troubleshooter

The exact texture of slime can vary depending on the glue, contact lens solution and/or food colouring used. Here are some tips for your science experiments.

Help! My slime is brittle – how do I make it gloopier?

Try adding less contact lens solution, mixing it in drop by drop until it just goes stringy and begins to come away from the bowl. Then knead.

I’d like fluffier slime

Try adding a small blob of shaving foam.

I’d like more slime

You can double or triple the quantities in the recipe.

My slime is too sticky, even after kneading

Try adding a drop more contact lens solution.

My slime won’t come together at all

Did you use saline solution? This cleans contact lenses but doesn’t work for slime. You need a branded contact lens solution with boric acid in it.

I want marbled or unicorn slime

Make in two or more different colours, add glitter if you like, and roll the batches of slime into rough sausage shapes. Stack next to each other then twirl together in a plait and knead.

Find more ideas in our guide on 3 ways with homemade slime.