Goopy Science: How to Make Slime with Glue

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Here's a simple way to make colorful slime with your kids while having fun and perhaps learning a little science.

What you need:

  • Polyvinyl acetate glue (school glue or craft glue)
  • Baking soda
  • Food coloring
  • Contact lens solution
  • *Vinegar (Optional ingredient that can be used for cleanup.)

(Image credit: Live Science)

Let's make some slime

Step 1: Add glue

Add about 1 cup (8 ounces) of glue to your mixing bowl.

(Image credit: Live Science)

Step 2: Add baking soda

Pour in about 1 tablespoon of baking soda and blend it with the glue.

(Image credit: Live Science)

Step 3: Add color

For this vivid color, we added 8 drops of pink food coloring. Mix well with the glue and baking soda until the color is uniform and there are no white streaks in the mixture.

(Image credit: Live Science)

Step 4: Add contact lens solution

Add two squirts of contact lens solution. The boric acid in the solution reacts with the glue, creating the slime's signature texture.

(Image credit: Live Science)

Step 5: Mix

Now start stirring! You should immediately see the effects of the contact lens solution, which will make your mixture stick to itself rather than to the sides of the mixing bowl.

(Image credit: Live Science)

Step 6: Watch the transformation

When making slime, it's important to be hands-on. Stick your hands in and test the texture. If it's still too sticky, add another squirt of contact lens solution. Keep kneading your blend and adding more solution as required, until it has the consistency you want.

(Image credit: Live Science)

Step 7: Presto, slime!

Enjoy your slime! If things get messy, vinegar can help with cleanup.

(Image credit: Live Science)

For more slime fun, check out our step-by-step guide for making puffy slime.

Mindy Weisberger
Mindy Weisberger
Live Science Contributor

Mindy Weisberger is a science journalist and author of "Rise of the Zombie Bugs: The Surprising Science of Parasitic Mind-Control" (Hopkins Press). She formerly edited for Scholastic and was a channel editor and senior writer for Live Science. She has reported on general science, covering climate change, paleontology, biology and space. Mindy studied film at Columbia University; prior to LS, she produced, wrote and directed media for the American Museum of Natural History in NYC. Her videos about dinosaurs, astrophysics, biodiversity and evolution appear in museums and science centers worldwide, earning awards such as the CINE Golden Eagle and the Communicator Award of Excellence. Her writing has also appeared in Scientific American, The Washington Post, How It Works Magazine and CNN.