How to Make Easy 3-Ingredient Slime With Your Kids

Making homemade slime with your kids is one of the easiest ways we can think of to be a cool parent. It’s such a win-win. For your kids, making slime is a chance to make a mess and pretend they’re playing with a giant wad of snot (living the dream!). For parents, it’s actually a really cheap activity, using ingredients you probably have around the house, and it basically cleans itself up.

Here’s why making this slime with your kids will feel so fulfilling. People like to talk about how kids in the ’80s had it so much better, what with the freedom from the internet and being allowed to roam our neighborhoods without supervision (or so I hear; my mom was strict and overprotective AF). But I also don’t recall us ever being encouraged to make our own playthings. It was Toys R Us for every form of entertainment that wasn’t television. Today, largely through the power of the internet, we parents have been reintroduced to the old-timey value of making stuff together, instead of purchasing it ready made. Not only do kids enjoy the finished product, but whipping up a batch in the kitchen with you is so much more fun than piling into the minivan and heading to the mall (remember those?).

Don’t worry if you’re not the craftiest or the mad-scientist-iest mom on the block. Making homemade slime is super simple. And if someone in the house wears contacts, you’ve probably got everything you need right there. (You can find other slime recipes that use Borax, and there’s very little difference between the two processes or end results. We’re just contact-wearers, so this is how we’re doing it.) Read on for instructions, or just watch the video above.

What you’ll need:

8 oz. Elmer’s School Glue (White)
1/2-2 tablespoons contact saline solution
1 tablespoon baking soda
Food coloring (optional)
Eco-friendly glitter (optional)

Squeeze glue and food coloring into a bowl and mix with a spoon or craft stick. Next, add the baking soda and mix. Then add 1/2 tablespoon of saline solution and mix completely. Here’s where things get exciting: To make the slime thicker, keep adding saline solution, a little at a time. It will stay extra slimy if you don’t add any more. If you want to get creative, you can add glitter or sequins for some very fabulous slime. And now for the fun part: Knead that slime with your hands until it sticks together (and stops sticking to the bowl) and forms a great little wad of sensory pleasing gooey-ness.

If you want your slime to last, store it sealed in a plastic container or a Ziploc bag. When it dries out or gets gross, the fun starts again!

This process really is too easy to need a cheat for, but in case you want one, you can also buy a slime kit from Elmer’s. We won’t tell on you.

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