Want a Safe, Non-Toxic Slime Recipe without Borax or Glue? Here are 10 Recipes for Making Slime, Many with Edible Ingredients!

From practically trending on twitter and taking over your Instagram feed, to endless YouTube DIY tutorials, the internet today is obsessed with these gooey, squishy jelly-like toy products the millennials came to call ‘Slime’. While some find peace through meditation and yoga and others take on reading to alleviate stress, the world now seems to rather spend time endlessly watching strangely satisfying and many addictive videos of this ‘stress toy’.

Although people finding joy in novelty toys which are going viral online isn’t entirely new to the ears, for instance, remember those fidget spinners every person in class carried all the time? But the surge of popularity that slime videos gained over the last two years, has been unbelievable and also makes us wonder – what’s all the fuss about after all?

First manufactured by an American toy manufacturing company, Mattel, in 1976, Slime was initially a gucky, green coloured craft product produced using guar gum. Over the years, Slime science has changed extravagantly and now incorporates all sorts of readily available ingredients in the recipes, making it something even a child can now prepare sitting at home.

From glitter slime to glow-in-dark slimes, many variants of this fascinating toy are today available and no longer only interests kids, but even serving as a source of income for people around the world. It all started in 2017 when a group of teenagers uploaded videos online, preparing different slimes using simple ingredients. People found these videos so engrossing that the internet then got flooded with similar tutorials which today get millions of views on a daily basis, helping YouTubers and bloggers all around the world make good money out of a “toy”.

There exists a number of variants of slime in the market today, such as, clear slime which appears transparent, foam slime which is full of foamy beads, glitter slime that is made by adding glitter to the recipe, fluffy slime appearing extra soft and ‘fluffy’ and producing bursting sounds when squeezed and glow-in-dark slime which as the name suggests, illuminates in the dark.

There are sand slimes, magnetic slimes, and even edible slimes prepared with edible ingredients such as chocolate, candies, and jello. All these new variants are only results of additional ingredients mixed with the otherwise basic slime recipe, that has not changed its composition for decades now.

The two main ingredients required for the preparation of a basic slime are Glue and Borax.

Slime may appear harmless, especially with readily available home ingredients being used, but that is not entirely the case, in fact, this people’s favorite DIY toy has proven to cause serious health risks owing to the dangerous chemicals used in its preparation.

With numerous applications, such as cleaning stains, killing insects, and as a preservative for certain products, Borax, or Sodium tetraborate, a naturally occurring mineral, although may be considered safer than its alternatives but still bears many side effects when used excessively, primarily through direct contact as slime. Borax has been found to cause eye irritation, redness, and itchiness in skin and even more drastic effects if consumed orally.

When in touch with your gastrointestinal lining, it can cause ulcers and thus result in severe distress. Other than that, borax can also be held responsible for vomiting, diarrhea, and can be fatal. So, while we allow children to play with slime, we must be more careful and make sure they don’t ingest it because even though they say its harmless, it is still just a mixture of chemicals.

Everyone’s favorite multipurpose glue is although considered non-toxic by many, but still, contain volatile organic compounds harmful to us and has multiple times been reported to cause skin, eye, respiratory irritation, and even seizures. In case you or your child comes in contact with it, make sure to wash immediately or report to a doctor in case of prolonged discomfort.

Other than these main ingredients, slime makers also incorporate blindly all sorts of chemicals and harmful substances which might be serving the purpose in the product by contributing to its consistency, texture or sliminess, but doing so at the cost of safety. So, even though slime products may be mass-appealing and appear benign and not exactly strictly dangerous to use, one must not overlook the ‘peril lying behind the pleasure’ with the chemicals being used in its preparation and the damaging effects they may eventually have on the users, especially children.

Keeping that in mind, the fun must not be stopped either! With continuously evolving slime science and more aware users, today many alternatives to borax and glue are being used and advertised to make homemade slimes out of easy ingredients, which are much safer than the former and let the users compromise neither on their health, nor the pleasure.

These slimes are still as oozy and sticky as glue slimes, but much safer, using water as the key ingredient along with some clear shampoo, in order to make clear slime, otherwise desired colour can be obtained using different colouring agents.

Here, you can also use hand soaps, dish soaps or clear shampoos in place of body wash, just making sure that the consistency of the alternative is enough to provide the desired fluffiness to your fluffy slime. Other than the body wash as the key ingredient, we are going to use some food coloring agent to give the color to the slime, some corn-starch readily available at a grocery store and water.

This alternative to glue is readily available in your dad’s washroom cabinet and already has got the foaminess to contribute to your ideal slime when mixed with some shampoo, a little bit of salt and lots of fun!

This is another famous recipe of a chemical-free slime that is consequently edible, although not ideal for packing in your kid’s lunch box, but definitely more comfortable to leave with your toddlers to play around with.

This slime recipe comes as a surprise as who could imagine banana turning into a slime? But this is as fun to play with, with not more, than your regular slime, and a bonus: its edible and 100% safe!

Another slime recipe with ingredients available readily in your kitchen, yogurt slimes are fun to make and completely safe!

All you need for this interesting slime recipe is psyllium husk, available in the market, some water and food coloring and you can have your fun DIY toy ready to have fun around with!

If there are something kids and even adults love more than slimes, it has to be chocolates and candies! So, why not bring the best of both worlds together? In this rather ‘mouth-watering’ recipe of slime, we take a chocolate pudding with water and corn flour.

We bring you another slime recipe without the use of glue or borax, with the use of gelatin and corn syrup only. It is both safe and fun for kids to play with, and they can even nibble on this taste-safe and edible slime.

With just a cup of milk and some corn starch, who knew one could have all that slimy fun at home? Also, since it is safe and taste-free, even moms won’t worry about the kids playing with this slime all day!