How to Make Fluffy Slime

This 3-ingredient Fluffy Slime recipe without borax is our family’s favorite slime recipe! And once you get going, the process becomes a cinch!

I first discovered this borax-free Fluffy Slime at our local library. Parents and kids were hunched over craft tables, kneading their sticky slime into a fluffy wonderland of joy. It was a hot mess, and all I can say is we endured, then we played, and now we’re living to tell about it.

At first, I thought Fluffy Slime was a bit too messy to enjoy at home. It was more of a “one and done” activity in my book. But it kept coming back to me. And, to be fair, once we got the slime just the way we wanted it, the girls had a blast playing with it. So I did research on a variety of recipes, including the recipe shared at the library and iheartnaptime’s 3-ingrdient Fluffy Slime recipe. And I have to say, I think I found a few ways to get the most out of Fluffy Slime without going crazy while making it. I have included those notes throughout this post where applicable, so you have the advantage while you make a batch of your own.

And I’m not joking when I say this is our favorite recipe. The girls love how delightfully weird it is. As a non-Newtonian fluid, it changes as you play with it. I love how weird it is too, and I love how it builds on what I would call “sensory opportunities.”

Why I love Fluffy Slime for sensory play

From hand strength to cause and effect, there are so many reasons to love this sensory slime recipe! Fluffy Slime:

• Is great for building hand strength. It changes depending on how you play with it. And, unlike other slime recipes, Fluffy Slime puffs up as you add stress, making it a wonderful sensory activity to build hand and finger strength.
• Feels messy without actually being messy. If you have children who don’t like to get dirty or dislike new sensations, but who want to engage with others (or you’d like them to practice with new sensations), then this homemade slime recipe might be a fitting activity. It feels wet and slimy without actually being wet and slimy. And once you play with it, the mixture becomes more foam-like. Another way to say it is, you get the joy of a variety of sensations but without the commitment. Once you set it down, you’re done. No extensive clean-up, nothing stuck between fingers, and no grit or grime caught under fingernails.
• Shows cause and effect. Fluffy Slime becomes foamier the more you play with it. Walk away to see what a bird is doing in a tree, and you’ll come back to a traditional slime. Start kneading it together again, and voila!, you have foamy slime again! You can also stretch this slime like a traditional slime and then puff it right back up again after folding it in your hands.

We are enjoying this Fluffy Slime recipe so much, we keep the ingredients on hand to make a batch whenever the mood strikes us. If you’re ready, let’s jump in, and I’ll show you how to make Fluffy Slime. It starts out a little messier than traditional slimes, but it’s totally worth the effort!

Fluffy Slime ingredients and equipment

What do you need to make your own Fluffy Slime recipe? Just three base ingredients! And this is a Fluffy Slime recipe without borax!

• White school glue. You don’t need name brand glue to make this work. Just good old-fashioned cheap school glue is perfect. I pour out as much from the bottle as I can. And then I put the cap back on and prop it upside down, collect the rest, and then pour it into the bowl. If you like to make slimes regularly, investing in a larger container of school glue may be worth it!
• Regular foam shaving cream. I start out with about two rounded cupfuls of shaving cream. But I suggest keeping a little extra shaving cream on hand just in case the ratio of ingredients is a little off balance.
• Contact lens solution. This is what turns the slime from a sticky mess into a foamy delight! Add sparingly so as not to turn your foamy slime into a wet mess. If you inadvertently add too much contact lens solution, then add more shaving cream. And if that still doesn’t work, then add a little baking soda (see below). Liquid watercolors or food coloring. I LOVE liquid watercolors for slime recipes because while they do transfer to hands and clothes they don’t permanently stain. Food color will work just fine, however as it may stain clothing, I highly suggest wearing grubby clothes for this activity.
• Baking soda. You don’t necessarily need baking soda for this recipe. If your slime is a little too soft or runny, then add more shaving cream, as stated above. However, if you find that it’s still too runny, then add a dusting (and I do mean “dusting”) of baking soda to the slime.
• Large mixing bowls. I started one batch in a small glass dish. It worked fine until we added the foam, and then I just couldn’t get enough space to stir the ingredients. So, those large bowls you keep stored and think you’ll never use? They’ll be perfect for this recipe!

How to make Fluffy Slime

Part of the struggle we had at the library was working with lunch baggies and small mixing bowls. Today’s Fluffy Slime recipe uses larger bowls and NO BAGGIES. We will work with a larger space, friends, and we will love it! 😊

1. In a large mixing bowl, combine one 4-ounce bottle of white school glue and add two tablespoons contact lens solution. If you are planning to color your Fluffy Slime, then add either food coloring or liquid watercolors at this stage. Stir ingredients together until well blended.
2. Add two rounded cups of regular foam shaving cream to the mixture and stir vigorously as much as possible. As you stir, the mixture should start pulling away from the sides of the bowl, turning into a blob. Use a spatula to scrape the sides of the bowl to capture any of the mixture that didn’t blend into the blob. The more you stir, the more like Fluffy Slime it will become.
3. Once you’ve stirred as much as you can with a spoon or a table knife, then begin kneading the slime between your hands. At first the mixture may stick to your hands and fingers, but as you knead, stretch, and pull the blob, it will gradually form into Fluffy Slime. If it is still too sticky, then add another quirt of two of contact lens solution, kneading in between each addition, until the desired consistency is reached. By the time I was done, I added about 1-2 more tablespoons of contact lens solution and another squeeze or two of shaving cream.
4. This Fluffy Slime recipe will last for the day.

Best practices for great slime

So now that you know how to make Fluffy Slime, let’s dive into ways to make the experience as enjoyable as possible.

• Foam matters. I made three batches of Fluffy Slime at once, and still one of my batches came out a little less foamy and a little more slimey than the others. I couldn’t figure it out. And then I realized, when I filled the cup with shaving cream, the shaving cream had been a little runnier instead of foamy. We were still able to play with it, but it didn’t have the air the other two batches had.
• Think in ratios. When you make Fluffy Slime, you are definitely starting out with specific measurements for ingredients. But as you work through the recipe, you may find you need a little of this and a little of that. So, if your Fluffy Slime is too sticky, then add a squirt or two of contact lens solution to the mixture. If the Fluffy Slime isn’t foamy enough, add a little more shaving cream. When you add more shaving cream, the Fluffy Slime will temporarily flatten into a traditional slime. DO NOT PANIC! 😂 Keep kneading the shaving cream into the Fluffy Slime, and, just like inflating a tire, your slime will take on more air and become foamy!
• Keep kneading. At first, the Fluffy Slime will be a hot mess (or maybe that’s just what happens when I make it). But the more you knead the ingredients together, stretch, pulling, manipulating as you go, the faster you’ll get to the end result.
• Start the process for littler fingers. If your kids are too little to make their own Fluffy Slime, or if their hand strength just isn’t ready to keep up, then fold and stretch the slime for them at first, if you are so inclined. Then once you have the slime fairly well blended, let them take over. I found my youngest, who just didn’t quite understand the process and didn’t have the finger strength to continually mold the ingredients together, liked stirring and adding ingredients but needed help when it was still sticky. Then she was ready to take over again and finish the kneading as she played with it. 

More sensory play activities!

If you love this Fluffy Slime recipe, then you might also enjoy these hands-on, sensory play activities, too!

• Homemade Easy Slime
• DIY Grimm’s Blocks
• How to Dye Pasta for Sensory Play
• Sensory Play Activities for Children – Loose Parts

Spiriteds, I hope you enjoy this Fluffy Slime recipe as much as our family has!!! I’m glad you’re here!

Print