This slime recipe without borax is SO AWESOME. This recipe makes perfect slime every single time! It’s soft, super stretchy, and with only 4 ingredients, it’s really easy to make!
How to Make Slime Without Borax
Homemade slime is SO MUCH FUN. Every kid I know loves it. And who can blame them!? DIY slime is super simple to make and sooooo much fun to play with when you’re done!
When you’re making glue-based slime, you need an activator. Your options are borax, liquid starch (which is impossible to find in Canada!), store bought slime “activator” (which seems highly over priced), or contact lens solution.
Yes! Contact lens solution! Contact lens solution makes really awesome slime. And it’s way easier than using Borax.
Slime Without Borax Video Tutorial:
*Note: The printable recipe is at the end of this post.
Looking for more ways to make slime? Here’s a few more of our favourite slime recipes:
Here’s What You’ll Need to Make Perfect Slime:
The full printable list of instructions is at the end of this post, but here’s a list of affiliate links to Amazon products showing what you’ll need for our slime recipe without borax:
I was at the pharmacy yesterday looking for contact lens solution and I saw options that were $4, $10 and $15… so depending on how much slime you want to make, there are plenty of affordable options!
What Kind of Contact Lens Solution is Best for Slime?
Make sure your contact lens solution has Boric Acid. Without Boric Acid, the slime won’t… well… it won’t turn into slime! There were lots of options on the pharmacy shelves. Check the ingredient list, and make sure Boric Acid is listed as one of the ingredients.
There are different brands you can choose, but I recommend using Renu Fresh contact lens solution by Bausch + Lomb. In the USA, this contact lens solution is called Renu Advanced Formula by Bausch + Lomb. Different brands have different amounts of Boric Acid, so if you’re using a different one, you might have to adjust the amount of contact lens solution needed to activate the slime.
What Kind of Glue is Best for Slime?
I recommend using Elmer’s School Glue. Every glue is slightly different and you may not get the exact same results with different brands. In fact, some generic brands won’t work at all!
Amazon Basics School Glue will also work, but I haven’t tried this exact recipe with it yet. You can definitely make great slime with it, but since it’s a slightly different glue, you might need to adjust the amount of water and activator you add to your slime.
Troubleshooting Your Slime:
- If the slime sticks to your hands, add more contact lens solution and knead it into the slime.
- Is your slime super stiff? You probably added too much activator. Keep adding small amounts of warm water to the slime and kneading it into the slime until it gets to a good slime consistency.
- Does your slime look like thick, clumpy soup? You might have to try again. Not all glue is the same. We recommend Elmer’s School Glue, and can’t guarantee that other brands will work for slime. Also, make sure you read the contact lens solution ingredients to make sure it contains Boric Acid. Without Boric Acid, it won’t turn into slime.
- It’s also important that you add the contact lens solution AFTER you’ve mixed together all the other ingredients. If you add the activator before mixing together the other ingredients the mixture turns into a clumpy mess.
Slime Recipe Without Borax
Follow our step by step tutorial below for how to make slime without borax. Learn how to make perfect slime, every single time!
Easy Slime Recipe (Without Borax)
Materials
- 1/2 cup Elmer's white school glue (4 ounces)
- 1/2 teaspoon Baking soda
- 1/3 cup Water
- 10 drops liquid food colouring (optional)
- 2-3 Tablespoons Contact lens solution (Renu Fresh or Renu Advanced Formula)
Instructions
- Add the white glue to a bowl, then sprinkle the baking soda on top. Mix with a spoon to combine.
- Add the water and food colouring (about 10 drops). Mix until it's completely combined and the colour is consistent. Make sure you scrape the edges of the bowl with the spoon as you stir to get all the glue mixed in.
- Add 2 Tablespoons of contact lens solution to the glue mixture, and stir until you have a good slime consistency and it stops sticking to the sides of the bowl.
- Keep adding small amounts of contact lens solution, kneading it into the slime, until you're happy with the consistency and/or it stops sticking to your hands.
- Your slime is complete!
Notes
Just a little heads up – the food colouring made my hands just a little bit blue after kneading and stretching the slime you see in the photos. A couple of hand washes later, and my hands were back to normal. But it’s something to keep in mind if you’re making this with kids.
When this slime was done it was really stretchy AND it didn’t stick to our hands at all. It’s soft and squishy and probably the best slime we’ve ever made!
Why Use Contact Lens Solution Instead of Borax?
Contact lens solution is easier to work with and more readily available. Laundry starch isn’t available in Canada, and Borax tends to be tricky to find as well. Contact lens solution is really convenient and makes really awesome slime!
Is Contact Lens Solution Safer Than Borax?
No, sadly contact lens solution is not safer than borax. The main ingredient you need to make any glue-based slime magic happen is Boric Acid. Borax is simply another name for Boric Acid – which is the main ingredient you need in your contact lens solution.
Sadly, I don’t know of any homemade glue-based slime recipes that don’t contain some form of boric acid.
If you’re concerned about skin irritation or other effects, your child can wear rubber gloves. Always make sure your kids wash their hands thoroughly after making and playing with slime.
If you’re looking for a safe slime recipe without questionable ingredients, check out or tutorial for How To Make Metamucil Slime.
More of Our Favourite Slime Recipes:
Classic Homemade Slime (With Borax)
DIY Floam Using Styrofoam Cups
Our book Low-Mess Crafts for Kids is loaded with 72 fun and simple craft ideas for kids! The projects are fun, easy and most importantly low-mess, so the clean up is simple!
Where to buy:
You can purchase Low-Mess Crafts for Kids from Amazon, or wherever books are sold:
Amazon | Barnes and Noble | Books- A- Million | Indiebound | Indigo | Amazon Canada
My slime is like water consistency. I have followed all the steps. Not sure why it is not becoming thicker? Please help.
It sounds like the contact solution you used doesn’t have the proper ingredients to activate your slime. Without boric acid the mixture will be watery.
I think it’s a bit funny that you are advertising that this slime doesn’t use borax. If the contact solution needs to have boric acid in order to work, isn’t that pretty much the same active ingredient? I’m no scientist but that doesn’t sound like it’s any safer.
Borax is typically a powder that you use for laundry. A lot of people prefer not to use borax when they’re making slime because of it’s concentrated nature. If children are going to make it, it’s easier and safer for them to handle contact lens solution than it is for them to handle a box full of concentrated powder. Other than that though, I totally agree that it’s exactly the same ingredient! See the section above about the difference between using Borax and contact solution.
This turned out great! Just one question: how do I get it out of clothes??
Glad you liked it!
To remove slime from clothing: try to pick off as much slime as possible. Then pour vinegar on the slime and scrub! You may have to repeat this a couple of times. Be sure to rinse the clothing once you have the slime removed.
So as contact lens solution is only salt water you shouldn’t need to even buy that. Also you can buy a borax substitute easily enough which I’m guessing will do same job
Hi Treez. You need to use a contact lens solution with boric acid in it for this recipe, not just saline solution.
What borax substitute would you suggest?