How to Make Fluffy Slime

I could have also easily titled this blog post "How to make your 10-year-old super happy on her summer break".  I don't know if you have any small fry underfoot this summer, but my youngest has been asking me non stop to make "slime".  Ah, slime. It sounds so appetizing, no? Not just any slime though mind you, she wanted to make the most super dee-duper fluffiest slime in the known universe! If your kids watch any YouTube videos at all, they will have most likely come across at least one form of a "slime" recipe or another, if not millions of them.

Slime - Fluffy squishy fun for all!

It's pretty, it's colorful, it feels fun and funky -  and sometimes makes fart noises...what's not to love? Plus when you whip some up, it feels a bit like a science experiment. Luckily my 10-year old had done some "extensive" online  research before presenting me with the ultimate slime recipe (in her opinion) that was decidedly the fluffiest on the internet.  We found our recipe here on YouTube and thanks to Gillian for the great how to video.

Slime can be made with some things that you can find around your house, and then some things you might have to pick up at the store.  These are the things we used for our first time recipe: 

The ingredients for super fluffy slime

Ingredients:

Elmer's glue (1/2 cup)
Shaving cream (1/2 cup)
Corn starch (1 tablespoon)
Food Coloring (few drops)
Hand lotion (few squirts)
Hand soap (original called for foaming hand soap we didn't have -  two squirts)
Borax 
Water

*Also it's good to note we used all glass containers so we could sanitize them properly after (as opposed to plastic that might absorb the soap residues)   

First thing you want to do is get 1 cup of water in a glass measuring cup and add 1 teaspoon of Borax.  Stir with a metal spoon until dissolved and set aside.

Next you want to get 1/2 cup of glue.  I didn't want to use our measuring cups we cook with, so we measured out in this glass mini bowl what a 1/2 cup would be first, so we knew where to pour to make a 1/2 cup.

We started blogging on the 2nd batch of slime, hence the already used bowls

Next you want to add a 1/2 cup of shaving cream.

shaving cream expands all fluffy-like and this was our second batch where we were making a bit more

After that, add 1 tablespoon of cornstarch.

I was okay using our measuring spoons because cornstarch is normally in the food category

 Mix together those three ingredients until blended well

We used a metal spoon while mixing in the glass bowl

Now you want to add a few squirts of hand lotion. We were told on the YouTube video this would make the slime "stretchy"

Just two squirts of hand lotion

The next part of the recipe called for a few squirts of foaming hand soap, which we didn't have, so we just put in a couple squirts of regular hand soap, which made it smell very nice.

We had soft soap on hand

Mix together until smooth

RESIST the attempt to believe this is whipped cream.  Do not lick the spoon.  Do not lick the spoon!

Now you can add whatever food coloring you want.

The first time she did pink, the 2nd batch of slime she picked blue.

And blend until the color starts to come out.

Now here's the most "science-y" part of the experiment.  You want to slowly add the borax/water mixture 1 tablespoon at a time into the bowl.

And as soon as your start to stir, the things in the bowl start to come together a bit.

Then you add a little more borax water... and a ball starts to form

Add a little more and it starts pulling away from the bowl and onto itself. At this point you can pick it up and start working it a bit like bread dough

We added a little more of the borax liquid and she was stretching and forming it into a ball.

A few more drops of the liquid and it started to get really shiny and come together pretty good!

Wow an official ball of fluffy slime!!

Success!  One of the fun things to do with slime is to poke your fingers in it like you are making some focaccia bread and it makes this marvelous "sucking" sound when you pull your fingers out of it.

Blue fluffy focaccia slime.

We had made a pink batch before we started blogging, and that one got the finger treatment as well!

It also looks fun as a perfect rounded ball, it can take on many shapes!

Also, when you tear it apart, there are supposed to be many fluffy bubbles in the middle.

Light and fluffy!!

Ooo and the most fun thing about fluffy slime is the way it can stretch "a million miles" according to most 10-year-olds.

Stretchy, fluffy, just like taffy

I mean, come on now, look how happy and proud she is that she made her own fluffy slime!!
 

Then, she wanted to know what would happen if she mixed a little of the pink and blue together, would it make purple??

Adding two colors together, at first they stayed in stripes, eventually they blended.

She wanted a brighter purple, so we added some food coloring right to the small ball and she worked it in until the color got a bit darker

Pink, purple, and blue fluffy slime!

We were also told to store these in an air tight container or a Ziploc plastic bag where you squish all the air out of it and store it in the fridge to make it last longer.  

It's also a good idea to wash your hands before and after playing with the slime and definitely keep it off the ground or anywhere it could attract hair, dirt, or crumbs (see where my hate of all things play doh related in one of my first ever blog rants.. here) to keep it at it's fluffy, slimy best!  

All and all this was a fun little craft and she loved every second of it.  It has been two days since we created "the slime" and she is still playing with the stuff.  Hooray for easy fun summer activities that keep the girls busy and hold their attention.  Yay!