Slime is one of the most fun DIY kids activities out there, and I’ve rounded up the coolest kinds of slime for you to make with your kids.
The key to these 20 different kinds of slimes is ONE master slime recipe.
Make this slime and you can customize it to fit your child’s interests.
No more scouring Pinterest and Google for different ways to make slime.
At the bottom of the post is instructions on how to make your own slime kit to give or to keep for a rainy day indoor activity!
WHAT EXACTLY IS SLIME?
Slime is a weird substance that acts like both a liquid and a solid. Some people call it a non-Newtonian liquid.
It’s fun to play with because it can hold its shape for a few seconds and then slowly turns into a blob that takes the shape of its container, like a liquid!
You can stretch it, squeeze it, and bounce it!
Our slime is based on a certain polymer, or a substance made up of long strands of molecules. This polymer is classified as a liquid because those molecules keep flowing past each other.
Once the activator is added, it connects the long molecule strands together. This makes the molecule get all twisted and clumpy.
Looking for an organized guide of fun, easy activities to do with your toddler that also encourages their growth and development?
I’ve created a 3-month activity planner just for busy parents like you! The plan includes 65 detailed, simple, and stress-free activities including: arts and crafts, sensory play, motor skills, and STEM–all using easy-to-find supplies.
Let me help make planning activities for your toddler easy, so you can skip the stress and get straight to the fun!
Why Slime Is Good for Your Toddler
Playing with slime is sensory play.
Sensory play is any activity where your senses are engaged.
There are many benefits to sensory play, including:
- Language development
- Providing sensory input (learning about the world through senses)
- Developing fine motor skills
- Fostering curiosity about the world
- Regulating emotions
- Kicking boredom in the butt
OK, so I made up that last one.
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The Master Slime Recipe
The key to these 20 slimes is this master slime recipe.
There are only four ingredients:
- School glue
- Baking soda (or bicarbonate of soda)
- Contact lens solution
- Water
This is the same recipe we use in our glitter glue slime.
Each of the following 20 slimes uses this basic recipe, with changes as to the color of glue, adding food coloring, and adding various mix-ins like glitter and confetti.
**Elmer’s makes a product called Magical Liquid which replaces the baking soda and contact solution. It is the perfect activator solution if you’re looking to make this with a lot of kids (i.e. for a party or classroom activity).
How to Make the Slime Base
Supplies:
- 5 oz glue (about 1/2 cup)
- 1/2 tbsp baking soda
- 1 tbsp contact lens solution
- 1/2 cup water
- mix-ins (glitter, food coloring, foam balls, etc.)
Instructions:
- Mix glue and water in a bowl and add your mix-ins.
- Sprinkle your baking soda on top and stir.
- Mix in the contact solution.
- Stir until it starts to pull away from the sides of the bowl.
- Knead until the slime comes together.
The bowl should be pretty clean. If it’s too sticky, add an extra squirt of contact solution. Don’t add too much, though, or it’ll get too rubbery.
If you’ve got a 5 oz glue bottle, after pouring most of the glue out, put your water in and give it a few shakes to help thin out the glue. You want to make sure you get all that glue out!
When adding the mix-ins, feel free to experiment a little! Add a lot or add a little and see how your slime changes.
This is a great activity to do over and over and over and over…and over.
Making the Best Slime
There are certain products that will consistently give you the best slime. These are the ones we like to use.
- Elmer’s glue (for us, this is the most accessible PVA-based glue; it comes in so many colors and styles, you hardly need to add mix-ins! Consider buying a gallon of the clear glue. It’ll save you time and money!)
- ReNu Contact Solution (includes sodium borate and boric acid)
- Wilton gel icing color (best, most vibrant color, but any gel food coloring will do)
Craft stores often have coupons and sales on slime mix-ins such as glitter, confetti, sequins, and beads.
Amazon has tons of mega-slime-supply kits. Like this one.
Dollar stores are a great source for mix-ins as well.
Don’t forget about sprinkles, nonpareils, and other fun mix-ins from the baking aisle!
Tips to Play Safe!
Note: this glue slime is not edible.
No one should ever eat glue.
Or glitter.
Unless its edible glitter. On a cupcake.
If you’re looking for something that’s taste-safe for young ones who lick and eat EVERYTHING, try any of the slime recipes in this edible slimes list.
Wash hands after playing with slime, please, especially if you’re going to eat or suck your thumb. These slime recipes contain chemicals that you don’t want in your mouth.
Plus, the germs! Ew!
Supervise! Even if you know she won’t try to eat it, she will probably make a huge mess if you don’t keep a close eye on her. Trust me.
Storing Your Slime
If you want to store your slime, try to keep it clean. Wash hands before playing and play on a clean surface.
You don’t want to play with days-old slime containing dust particles and pet hair. Ick!
Slime should last for several days in an airtight container.
If you’re planning on gifting your latest batch, get a container like this and add a pretty label to the top!
Make Your Own Slime Kit
A slime kit makes a great non-toy gift for birthdays and holidays.
Or you could make one for yourself to pull out on a rainy day, for a quiet indoor activity, or just any time the kids going crazy from boredom!
This slime kit is for two different batches of slime. Increase the number of glue bottles and get a bigger bottle of contact lens solution if you want to make more.
To get started, pick two slime recipes below.
I’ve broken down these 20 slime recipes into four categories: crunchy slime, glittery slime, specialty slime, and holiday slime.
Choose two from the same category or mix and match.
Gather the following supplies:
- two 5+ oz bottles of white, clear, or glitter glue
- one travel-size bottle of contact lens solution (at least 2 oz)
- one box of baking soda
- food coloring of your choice
- mix-ins for each type of slime (this kit has nearly everything you could ever want for slime)
- two nice containers to keep the slime in
Put the supplies in a nice box or basket.
Print the glue slime base recipe below.
Add a gift tag or a nice card, and voila! You’ve got yourself a giftable slime kit!
Crunchy Slime
1. Rainbow Explosion Slime
- Sprinkle nonpareils (rainbows sprinkles) to your finished slime and use white glue
I just love the streaks of color! They are caused by the sprinkles starting to dissolve in the contact solution. But because this recipe uses sugar sprinkles, the nonpareils will eventually melt and the colors mix. Sad. You’ll just have to make this slime all over again!
2. Fake Snow Slime
- Add instant snow (follow package directions to expand before adding)
Here’s some snow that will NEVER melt. Use white glue to make things the most snow-like, or add a little color for fun. Just PLEASE do not make yellow snow.
3. Floam Slime
- Use glitter glue and add foam beads
- Add a bit of water to make it more slimy and less floamy (Uh, can I get a spell check on that?)
Why buy Floam when you can make it in the comfort of your own home? Using glitter glue means you can skip the food coloring this time.
4. Snow Cone Slushie Slime
- Add slushie beads (translucent little plastic beads)
- Add food coloring to clear glue
Please do not eat this! It looks like a slushie, but sadly, it isn’t a slushie. Also, please do not throw this red slushie at anyone. That would just be mean!
5. Sparkly Candy Slime
- Use clear glue and add beads and candy charms
The clear glue is pretty cool by itself. Add sparkly, pretty beads and fun little candy charms. Stretch and hold up against a window to see it catch the light. Prrretttyyyy….
6. Sand Slime
- Add a 1/4 cup of play sand
This is a great slime if you’re missing the beach. With a few shells and some tiny sand pails, you’re ready for a slimy beach party! (That doesn’t sound quite as fun as I thought it would in my head…)
Glittery Slime
7. Galaxy Slime
- Add blue and a tiny bit of black food coloring to clear glue
- Add silver and blue glitter
Your kids will love holding a whole galaxy in the palm of their sticky, slimy little hands…
8. Mermaid Slime
- Use blue and green glitter glue, or mix up the colors yourself
- Mix in some chunky glitter (silver and blue shown above)
I love how the chunky glitter looks like mermaid scales! Small sequins would be a good alternative to chunky glitter.
9. Frozen Slime
- Use clear glue dyed teal and mix in snowflake confetti and silver glitter
My daughter loves “Let It Go.” She asked to make this slime about a hundred times before we actually did it. In fact, one of her favorite things to do right now is sing “Let It Go” and throw cotton balls in the air. Thankfully she hasn’t attempted to throw this slime everywhere…
10. Liquid Gold Slime
- Use gold liquid watercolor as your dye with clear glue
- Add a ton of gold glitter
Finally, liquid gold that isn’t mac and cheese and won’t melt your skin off.
Specialty Slime
11. Glow-in-the-Dark Slime
- Just use glow-in-the-dark glue for this one 🙂
This is a super-easy glue slime thanks to Elmer’s glow-in-the-dark glue line. Make sure to “charge” your glue in the light before bringing to the dark.
12. Extra Fluffy Slime
- Add lots of shaving cream and food color of your choice
- You can also add foaming hand soap for extra fluff and scent
The bright neon colors all swirled together will make this fluffy slime a hit at a birthday party or on a gray, rainy day!
13. Heat-Sensitive Color Changing Slime
- Mix this thermochromic pigment with colored glue
Did you wear a mood ring when you were young? This slime will take you back to the good old days! It changes color with the temperature! To see the color change, you must use a color of glue that is different from the color of the thermochromic pigment. Now you can nonchalantly work that word into conversation: I just picked up some milk, eggs, and a bottle of thermochromic pigment at the store today.
14. Magnetic Slime
- Add iron oxide powder
- Use these magnets to attract your new slime
This one is a little complicated with the addition of iron oxide powder and the need for special magnets, but it looks so cool! My toddler would freak out over this. We are loving magnet activities like this sensory bin we did for Christmas!
15. Clay Butter Slime
- Knead a pack of this soft clay into your slime
This is the least slimy of all the slimes because of the addition of clay, but it is so soft, fluffy, and fun that your kids won’t care that it’s not making a mess! The texture is comparable to our own non-clay butter slime recipe.
Holiday Slime
16. Valentine’s Day Slime
- Mix in heart confetti and glitter
- Dye clear glue or use colored glue
Nothing says “I love you” better than homemade glue slime with lots and lots of glitter.
17. St. Patrick’s Day Rainbow Slime
- Divide clear glue into 6 bowls. Mix a different rainbow color of glitter into each. Then add the baking soda and stir. Finally, add the contact lens solution.
This beautiful rainbow slime is more glittery than the pot of gold at the end of it! Be sure to snap your pics early. Once the colors touch, there’s no separating them!
18. Fourth of July Slime
- Use clear glue and gel food coloring to make the red and blue slimes
- Use white glue and star confetti for the white slime
While you’re waiting for the fireworks to start, keep kids entertained with these vibrantly colored red, white, and blue slimes. Glow-in-the-dark slime would be perfect to squish once it starts getting dark, too!
19. Spiderweb Slime
- Add one tbsp of instant snow and use white glue
- Toss in some plastic spiders for easy imaginative play
Hopefully you saved some instant snow from the snow slime recipe! No need to expand the snow; just toss it in and knead for a bit until the snow expands. Stretch it out and voila, spiderweb slime!
20. Peppermint Christmas Slime
- Use clear glue dyed green and red
- Add glitter to match
I do love Christmas! This red and green Christmas slime would be so pretty in a glass jar for a stocking stuffer or kids’ Christmas party favor!
Happy Slime Making!
If you liked this slime list, try edible slime next!
Or try this two-ingredient, super-easy butter slime recipe that smells amazing!
Looking for an organized guide of fun, easy activities to do with your toddler that also encourages their growth and development?
I’ve created a 3-month activity planner just for busy parents like you! The plan includes 65 detailed, simple, and stress-free activities including: arts and crafts, sensory play, motor skills, and STEM–all using easy-to-find supplies.
Let me help make planning activities for your toddler easy, so you can skip the stress and get straight to the fun!