St.Patrick’s Home-Made Non-Toxic Slime

Today, we are making green borax-free three-ingredient non-toxic slime inspired by the approaching St. Patrick’s Day. Slime, besides being absolutely awesome to touch, is also an amazing science demonstration. Besides, we love hands-on learning! And St.Patrick’s home-made non-toxic slime is just a perfect activity to get preschoolers and kindergartners excited about chemistry, science, and STEM. Most importantly, you can do it safely at home!

What you will need to make this borax-free three-ingredient non-toxic slime:

• 1/2 cup of liquid clear glue
• 1/2 teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda (baking soda) which helps slime firm up
• green coloring, confetti, and glitter (optional)
• half to 1 tablespoon of contact lens solution so that slime begins to bind (some use borax which also has some boric acid but we avoid using it since it is toxic.) Boric acid and sodium borate are the best slime activators
• Mix well with a fork until slime no longer sticks to your hands and the bowl.

HOW TO make St.Patrick’s Home-Made Non-Toxic Slime:

First, pour glue into a bowl. Then, add baking soda, glitter and liquid color (optional). Stir until uniformly distributed. Add contact lens solution last as it is an activator and once the slime firms up, it will be hard to add other ingredients. I suggest adding a squirt of the solution at a time until the slime starts coming off the sides of the bowl. Mix the slime with a fork and then knead it with your hands. If slime feels loose or too sticky, keep adding squirts of contact solution until it’s just right. (Be careful not to add too much of a contact solution, as it will result in slime becoming brittle, snapping and not stretchy at all.) If slime feels too hard, add a little more glue. Note: we do NOT add any water, otherwise, you will have to add much more contact solution to activate your smile!

Have FUN with this St.Patrick’s Home-Made Non-Toxic Slime!

What is the science behind the slime? Baking soda helps to firm slime. The saline solution is the slime’s activator and helps it to get its rubbery texture. The slime will begin to form immediately thanks to the mixture of boric acid and sodium borate present in the saline solution. These two ingredients are cross-linking agents that create your slime! 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. 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 thicker and rubberier like slime and less like the liquid you started with. The final step is to knead your slime. The slime is ready once it starts to pull away from the sides of the bowl.

You can see this activity on Instagram here.

P.S. Always supervise your children while they are crafting and creating, Xoxo

For more St. Patrick’s Day-inspired hands-on crafts and DIYs, see here St. Patrick’s Day Inspired Unit Study.

For more slime ideas, see below:

Please, always supervise your children while they are S.T.E.M.-ing through play.