Make Slime Without Borax: 5 Easy Recipes for Gooey Homemade Ooze

As kids, we were all obsessed with Nickelodeon's epic green slime — getting slimed felt like the ultimate badge of honor. What most of us didn't realize back then is how easy it is to make your own slime at home.

One of the most common ways to make slime is to combine liquid glue with water and a household chemical called borax. You can use the powdered form of borax, which easily dissolves into water and can be found online or in any grocery store. The video below shows how easy it is. You can also check out The King of Random's guide for more detailed instructions.

Borax is commonly used in household products like laundry boosters and insecticides. While small amounts are generally considered safe for cleaning, some organizations — including the European Chemicals Agency — classify borax as a potential health hazard if ingested or mishandled, especially by children. For that reason, many parents and educators now seek safer, borax-free alternatives for DIY slime.

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So, here are a few ways to make your own slime at home without using borax.

Cornstarch slime

For the simplest slime recipe, all you need is cornstarch. Just dump some into a bowl, add water, and start mixing. Keep adding water until it reaches the consistency you want (a good place to start is two parts cornstarch to one part water). You can also add food coloring to make it look more legit.

This is a great project you can do with kids to show them how certain compounds react to one another. For example, starch solidifies and then liquefies depending on the amount of movement. That is what we in the Dr. Seuss world call Oobleck (a non-Newtonian fluid). Check out the video below and the full tutorial for more information.

You can also heat the mixture to make it easier to combine. Once it cools, you can store it in airtight containers for later.

Powdered fiber slime

Fiber isn't only good for keeping your digestive system on track — it's also another ingredient that can replace borax in slime. You can pick up a powdered fiber supplement from a pharmacy or grocery store. The brand doesn't matter as long as it contains the active ingredient psyllium husk or psyllium hydrophilic mucilloid.

Like the cornstarch method above, this recipe uses heat to reach the desired consistency, boiling the mixture in the microwave several times. If you don't have a microwave, the process can be easily done on the stovetop. Check out the video and the full tutorial for more details and the complete ingredients list.

Liquid starch slime

Liquid starch is used to remove wrinkles from clothes. You can buy a concentrated version from the store and mix it with water, but it's just as simple and cheap to make at home using cornstarch and water. Once you have your liquid starch mixture — store-bought or homemade — you can mix up some slime using water and liquid glue. Check out the complete tutorial for the full ingredients list.

Edible glow-in-the-dark slime

If you're doing this project with young children, make the slime edible, because the first thing they will do is try to eat it. This recipe is made to be used as fake blood for part of a Halloween costume, but it's great for any time of year and ensures you don't have to worry about the little ones getting sick.

This method also uses fiber, but with the twist of adding tonic water, so it glows in the dark under a black light. Check out the video (and full step-by-step tutorial) to see how to make it.

Keep in mind, though, that just because something's edible doesn't necessarily mean you want to eat it. With nothing more than fiber powder and tonic water, this stuff probably won't taste all that great, but you could add some sugar to make it more palatable.

Laundry detergent slime

Instead of using borax to make slime, you can opt for liquid laundry detergent. Any cheap liquid detergent will do, but again, some brands do contain borax or borate compounds, so if you're avoiding borax entirely, check the ingredient list first.

With this method, you combine the detergent with glue and food coloring. It's extra easy because you don't need to use water or heat up the solution. Check out the video to see how to make your own.

Final note

While borax isn't banned in the US for household use, some safety groups discourage its use in kids' crafts due to possible skin, eye, and respiratory irritation with prolonged contact. The alternatives above are all great borax-free slime recipes that are fun, customizable, and safer for younger hands.

Do you know any other ways to make gooey slime without using borax? Let us know in the comments section below.

Cover photo via Jay Malone/Flickr.