We’ve discovered a world exclusive secret ingredient to make perfect strong, stretchy, crackle slime every time. Here’s our recipe which uses white PVA glue, colouring, a borax activator and the secret ingredient!
Read on to see how we did it, there’s a video to watch too, plus, of course…..find out the secret ingredient!!
This slime is easy to make!
Here at Devon Science we help kids make a lot of slime, be it a school workshop, a fun community event or a birthday party, we have literally made 1000s of pots of slime with kids. I (chief scientist at Devon Science) experiment a fair amount with different slime recipes and so I decided to try adding a new, secret ingredient – a chemical I had in the lab, one that I thought might just work….and YES! ….it produced as super strong, long lasting, stretchy & soft slime.
My secret ingredient is….POLYOX, or polyethylene oxide.
It sounds very science-y, but it is easy to get. We use it because it turns very gloopy in water and is good to demonstrate self-siphoning liquids. I was so glad I tried it out as it makes the slime really strong – it stretches without breaking, it make bubbles effortlessly and is guaranteed to crackle!
Materials used
Large bowl and something to stir with
PVA glue (see Lab Notes below)
Colouring (food colouring or craft paint work fine)
Activator – We now sell ready to use slime activator in our shop too.
The secret ingredient – Polyox (polyethylene oxide) – easy to find online
Measuring spoon
Covering for table
Tub to store slime
Here are the main materials/ingredients we used:
Our method
I poured about 200ml of PVA glue into the bowl.
Then in went a few drops of food colouring and I stirred this in.
Next, I added a dessert spoon of our secret ingredient, Polyox, and stirred this in for 5 minutes until it was completely dissolved.
Finally I added the Activator (borax – see Lab Notes below), a little at a time with good stirring in-between.
Once the slime started to pull away from the sides of the bowl, I knew it is ready to be kneaded in my hands. This is the messy part but you really need to feel the slime to determine if you need to add some more activator. If it feels too sticky, add a squirt of Activator. I kept kneading and squidging, and adding more Activator, until it was perfectly soft and stretchy.
Watch the video to see how easy it is to make:
Results
This slime is very strong and resilient, but doesn’t lose its softness. I can pull and stretch it without it breaking, yet it feels soft and pliable. It’s long lasting too (we’re storing it in an air-tight container).
Bubbles are easy to make and hence it has brilliant crackling properties. We made this huge bubble outside which was fun!
Lab notes
UK vs USA Slime
Avoid watching American videos on slime making as they use ingredients readily available over there (e.g. Elmers Glue, Mule Borax powder). You can buy these items here in the UK or online, but they are REALLY expensive and you absolutely don’t need to waste your money!
PVA glue
Not all PVA glues work, avoid the ones in the DIY section, go for craft PVA glue. We’ve had success with craft glue from the well known UK shops, The Works and Baker Ross.
ACTIVATOR (BORAX)
You need Borax (chemical name – sodium tetraborate) to make slime. It reacts with the PVA in the glue to make slime.
Nothing else works, you need borax and PVA to make slime!
If you ever see someone advertising “borax free” activator, its either
- Not going to work because it has no borax in!
- They’re trying to get you to think theirs is “safe”, so best avoid, goodness know how much borax will be in it.
- They think their activator has no borax in it (e.g. contact lens solution) but if they check the ingredients they’ll see borax listed, it might say ‘boric acid’ or ‘sodium borate’
We make our own Activator using borax (of course!) which we now sell in our online shop. We make a weak solution of borax that is safe to use . It is the raw ingredient of borax that is hazardous, a weak solution of it is not harmful. You may be able to buy activator from your local shops, but it is expensive and can be watered down so you need loads of it to activate a small amount of slime. Our activator is the strongest it can be whilst still being safe, so a little goes a LONG way!
You can grab a 120ml bottle of our activator from our shop which will activate 2 Litres of slime or one of our basic Slime Kits here, or better still, check out our shop for seasonal slime kits, so for Christmas we have Santa Slime, and for Halloween we add our Spooky Slime Kit.
BORAX SAFETY
You may have heard about safety concerns with borax. In the UK the raw material (sodium tetraborate) is classified as toxic, but a weak solution, e.g. 2.5% is of low hazard. So we prepare our activator solution with sodium tetraborate for you to use.
We now sell ready to use slime activator in our shop too. We have been making our own slime activator for our workshops and parties for over 10 years now and its is strong, reliable, and safe. Grab your bottle now and happy sliming!
Want more slime recipes?
BUY OUR DEVON-MADE SLIME KIT HERE.
Colour-changing thermochromic slime
Magnetic slime
Fluorescent/Hallowe’en slime
Fluffy slime
We now sell ready to use slime activator in our shop too.
If you tackle this activity at home you do so at your own risk. If you have as much fun as we did, feel free to share your pictures with us on Facebook.
Have fun sliming!
Bye for now
Ruth
Chief Scientist at Devon Science