How to Make Slime with Borax

Today we’re going to find out how to make slime with borax. Borax slime is one of my favorites. It comes out super stretchy and is fun to make – you’ll see why in just a bit.

Watch the video below to see how to make slime with borax, or keep scrolling to see all the individual steps in detail.

Borax (also known as sodium borate) is a natural mineral that has many uses like cleaning, making ink, fighting fires and even keeping bugs from getting in your house!

The brand Borax is sold as a type of laundry detergent and all purpose cleaner. It’s been around since 1891.

The “20 Mule Team” name that’s on the Borax box has an interesting history. In the late 1800’s, sodium borate was in demand since it was needed for mining gold. Most of the sodium borate was coming from mines in Death Valley, CA. But the loads of sodium borate were so heavy, it became too much for standard 18-mule teams to haul. So they started using 20 mule teams and the rest is history!

BTW – We haven’t used any borax in our laundry machine yet, but it definitely makes great slime!

(Don’t have any borax? Here’s how to make slime without borax.)

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Borax slime is stretchier and stickier than other slimes.

Your hands are going to get pretty messy while you make borax slime, but it’s totally worth it.

Note: Borax slime starts out very gloopy when you first add the borax to the slime mixture. You might even think the batch is ruined at first, but if you keep kneading the slime, it eventually comes together and is totally awesome.

Now let’s get to it and see how to make slime with borax.

Here are the ingredients you need to make borax slime:

  • White Glue
  • Borax
  • Warm Water (about a cup)
  • Hand Lotion 
  • Hand Soap
  • Shaving Cream (foam style, not gel style)

Prepare your workspace. Borax slime is much messier to make than regular slime. If you’re using a small bowl like I do, you will end up spilling a little. That’s okay – the messy part makes borax one of my favorite kinds of slime.

Here are the steps on how to make slime with borax:

  1. Add glue to your mixing bowl. For the video, I took the time to measure it and it weighed a little over 5 ounces. You’ll see at the end, that makes a whole lot of slime…
  2. Add a few pumps of Liquid Soap to the slime. You don’t have to add the soap, but I find that it makes the slime feel better when you’re done and it also makes it smell less like glue.
  3. Mix the glue and lotion.
  4. Add about a spoonful of hand lotion – any brand will work. The lotion will help make the slime more stretchy. Mix the lotion into the glue.
  5. Now add the shaving cream. Use about how much you see in the photo – I’d say it’s about enough to fill the palm of your hand. The shaving cream isn’t absolutely necessary for borax slime, but I find that it makes the slime fluffier.
  6. Mix the shaving cream into the slime mixture.
  7. Now it’s time for the borax! Add about a cup of warm tap water into a separate bowl. Don’t put the water directly in your slime mixture. Add about 2 big pinches of borax to the water and mix (watch video to see how little you need – not even a teaspoon). It’s okay to use your hands to mix it in. Because your hands are going to get very messy in the next few steps.
  8. Pour just a little bit (about 1 Tablespoon) of the borax & water solution into your slime bowl. You don’t need to measure it exactly as you can see in my video, but just be careful to add it in small amounts.
  9. Start stirring! The slime mixture will be very gloopy and you might even think the slime is ruined. Don’t worry, it will come together soon enough.
  10. Borax slime will be wetter and sticker than regular slime while you make it. If it seems like the slime is still too much like glue, you can add a very small amount of your borax solution to thin it out. At this point, you’re probably ready to put the spoon down and start kneading the slime.
  11. You can see in the photo that the slime is super sticky and all over my hands. But by the time I’m done kneading, the slime will have pulled away from my fingers and my hands will be pretty clean. So keep kneading!
  12. After just a little bit of kneading, the slime is coming together very nicely (you can see how long it took in the video at the top of the page).
  13. And now we have the finished slime. See how far it stretches?
  14. Also, you can tell that most of the slime pulled away from my hands and my fingers are clean. This batch came out really good! It’s super stretchy and the perfect amount of stickiness.

Congratulations – you’ve just found out how to make slime with borax! Borax slime is a great slime recipe to have in your bag of tricks. And one box of Borax will last you forever so have fun!

P.S. While you’re here, please take a second to sign up for Slime Academy email below (and please like my Facebook page, too). When you sign up, I’ll  send you emails with special announcements and giveaways that only go to my subscribers. So sign up!!

 

SIGN UP FOR SLIME!

Enter your email to sign up and you'll get 2 FREE printables:

  • The original Simple Slime recipe that will show you how to make slime.
  • The Official Slime Academy "Slime Apprentice" certificate.
  • Plus get invites to subscriber-only events and free giveaways!

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