Here's What Happened When We Put Five Homemade Slime Recipes to the Test

Need the best slime recipe for your next party? I experimented with 5 different no-borax slime, sand slime, and contact lens solution slime recipes. Of the five recipes I tested, I'm also going to tell you which one turned out to be my favorite.

Five homemade slime recipes were tested, and here are the results.

Hey all I've been dying to publish this article because it's been on my to-do list for so long. Before I even started this blog, lol It's going to take you a while to get through these 5 homemade slime recipes.

Because there are already so many DIY slimes out there, I figured it was pointless for me to try to invent my own recipe from scratch. Instead, I decided to test out five different recipes and share my findings.

My daughter enjoys making slime and other messy crafts, so this would be a great activity for us to do together. Let's begin immediately, shall we?  

First test: R's classroom's simple borax slime recipe.

There seems to be a lot of interest in "DIY slime recipes without borax," but I've found that many of them still call for the ingredient. We needed to try one of these recipes because of how simple they are and how few ingredients they require. In addition, there was a sizable container of borax in the scullery.

One of R's teachers, hearing that I wanted to make slime with her, offered to send us a recipe for one of their favorites. This is what got me thinking about comparing various kinds.

Ingredients for this dish include:

• 1 and a half cups
• The equivalent of one-fourth teaspoon of borax
• Mix 1 1/2 cups glue with 3/4 cup water.

This recipe's mixing process is very simple. Borax and water should be combined in the same bowl. Another bowl should be used to combine glue and water. Food coloring can be used in either bowl.

Next, combine the contents of the two containers. The desired slimy consistency will start to develop. Once it reaches a certain size, you will need to start kneading it on the table.

In case you were wondering, borax is a boron compound, a mineral, and a salt of boric acid. Slime is created when borax reacts with the glue's other ingredients.

Conclusions about the Most Popular Homemade Slime Recipe

It was a successful beginning. Although it wasn't terrible, it wasn't my favorite either. When making slime, I found it challenging to fully dissolve the borax, which resulted in a grainy, chunky texture. Some examples are shown in the images below.

You should also know that if you add food coloring to only one bowl, you may not be able to fully combine the contents of both. The texture was very similar to...rubber. Unlike store-bought slime, it doesn't have the consistency of a liquid.

Like this Read the article we wrote after trying five different recipes for homemade playdough.

Sand slime, version 2 (Do-It-Yourself)

The sand slime recipe from Smart School House was next on my list to try. Check out her blog for a comprehensive guide and size chart. The list of ingredients is shown below.

Ingredients for this dish include:

• Clear glue
• Sand
• Substitute for Contact Lenses
• Sulfur dioxide for baking

This was the first time I'd ever used contact lens solution in a recipe, and I had to find out more about it. How did it function, exactly? Who knew it could be used to make homemade slime?

That's right, borax is a key ingredient in making slime because it combines so well with glue. To disinfect the lenses, boric acid is included in the contact lens solution, as I recently discovered. Boronic acid is a boron-based monobasic Lewis acid.

Polymer chains are formed when boric acid reacts with polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) in glue. Polymer chains The texture is like slime. Science The sand enhances the tactile experience without interfering with the reaction of the boric acid and PVA.

Discussion and decision on homemade sand slime

I liked it used common sand because it was already in my toolbox I used blue food coloring and glitter to make the sand sparkle, as instructed in the tutorial, which required colored sand. After that, I combined it with the remaining components. Creating and working with it required little effort.

Even my picky eater of a daughter liked this dish. It made her think of Kinetic Sand, another toy she enjoys. This one also kept very well; we put it in a bag and used it multiple times before throwing it away.

As you can see in the image below, it also had a cool web-like consistency. But there is one thing I must caution you about. The situation is likely to become a little messy. Even though the sand is mostly contained in the slime, some of it has been known to make its way onto the table. (Refer to second image below) So, get ready for a little extra tidying up.

Check out my posts on melting broken crayons in silicone molds, making glittery sensory bottles, and DIY sidewalk paint recipes for more fun kid crafts.

Third Attempt: Homemade Slime Made with Just Three Ingredients

I Heart Naptime's 3-ingredient homemade slime recipe was the third one we tried. To me, the less effort required, the better. See her blog for the complete guide, including template and dimensions.

The ingredients in this dish were:

• Glue
• Common salt
• Sodium bicarbonate, or baking soda

Before combining everything, we decided to tint the glue orange and yellow. As well as a dash of glitz

What we think of that slime you made with only three simple ingredients

I can only describe this one as messy. LOL Here's the slime to get if your kid isn't afraid to get his or her hands dirty. However, my daughter was more hesitant. She found it annoying that she had to wash it off afterward because she couldn't get it off her fingers.

In retrospect, we could have benefited from the addition of a bit more saline solution to bring everything together, but the kid had lost interest by then. Take a look at these examples to observe the uniformity. Terribly slimy

DIY Fluffy Slime, Round 4 of Experiments

The fourth experiment utilized a recipe for homemade fluffy sand slime from the book The Best Ideas for Kids. Quite entertaining, this. The shaving cream aids in "fluffing" ”

We've done fluffy tub paint with shaving cream before, so I wanted to see how it worked with DIY slime, which is why I went with that option. Read the original post and watch the accompanying tutorial for detailed instructions and specific dimensions.

Ingredients for this dish include:

• Glue
• Eye drops for contacts
• Salicylic acid
• Water
• Razor blades and aftershave

After combining the shaving cream, glue, and water, we found that the resulting substance was extremely light and airy. We completed the recipe as written, including the addition of some pink food coloring, and then served.

The verdict on making your own fluffy slime

To put it simply, we enjoyed it. My kid invited her friend over to help her try it out, and the two of them ended up making a huge mess. However, they found great amusement in creating the chaos.

Keep in mind that this one is messier and will require some clean up after use. We also found it awkward to stow away in a purse. A sealable Tupperware container is what I'd use to store it. Below are some close-up images so you can see the uniformity for yourself.

Experiment 5: Homemade slime with liquid starch and glue

As for the fifth and final DIY slime recipe test, we used the liquid starch and glue slime from the Little Bins for Little Hands website. This one caught my eye because it included an innovative component: liquid starch.

In the fashion of those used for garments Measurements and a comprehensive guide are available at the aforementioned link. I don't think I'm the only one who has never used liquid starch.

The fact that the bottle boasts "great for crafts" indicates that they want us to apply it beyond the realm of arts and crafts. Since I have such a large bottle at my disposal, I plan on investigating its potential for use in other DIY projects.

The following ingredients were used in this dish:

I must confess that my initial reaction was one of doubt. A total of only three constituents are required Is it as sticky as the other 3-ingredient slime, which my picky daughter refuses to touch? Glue, water, and liquid starch were all that was needed to create this.

To what end does liquid starch As to why it produces slime, Why? Because of the chemical reaction between the PVA in the glue and the liquid starch, as we saw above. Polymer strands, or chains of the components in the liquid starch, are formed by the glue to form the slime.

To achieve the salmon hue, we used a combination of red and orange. (Since we were out of pink, I tried to convince my daughter that pink salmon was the next best thing. The final ingredient for the slime was added after we dumped in a bunch of pink glitter.

The result of trying to make slime at home with liquid starch and glue

Yesssssss THIS The one and only What really surprised me was how much it resembled the commercial slime you can buy in a store. And the preparation was a piece of cake!

To achieve the desired "slime" consistency, I added more liquid starch than the recipe called for.

I "whipped" the extra ingredients in the bowl with a spoon after adding more than the recipe called for. And the outcome was OUTSTANDING. If you want your slime to be as thick as those you buy in stores, I highly recommend this recipe.

Because of how fascinating the uniformity was, I snapped a lot of pictures. And we kept him entertained for the better part of thirty minutes, which is a long time for a child of his age. I found that just fiddling with it was calming.

Not only did it leave behind almost no mess or residue on the table after our play, but it was also a lot of fun! To me, this was a major selling point because it simplified my life.

Plus, I spilled some on my skirt, but it washed right off. (This is not to imply that the others do not; I simply did not test them.) )

Save this pin for when you're ready to try one of my five homemade slime recipes!