How to Make Super Stretchy, Easy 3 Ingredient Slime Recipe

Finally! A slime recipe that really works – no liquid starch, borax powder, detergent. Super simple and super stretchy saline slime. Ours stretched over 40 feet!

I’ve been trying to make slime for over two years. Yes, you read that right, two years! Finally, after all those failures, I found a recipe that actually works! It uses only 3, easy to find ingredients, and no liquid starch, borax powder or laundry detergent. Just quick, easy and with perfect results every time! We love our saline slime recipe!

Best Stretchy Slime Recipe Made With Contact Lens Solution

What you will discover in this article!

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Years of Slime Failures

Have you ever seen a really cool slime recipe?

Over the past couple of years I’ve been so inspired by some of the amazing slime activities I’ve stumbled across. Yet, when I tried to make my own slime, every attempt was a complete and utter failure.

About six months ago I went on a massive shopping trip buying every possible ingredient. I had researched the science, read so many recipes. I was determined to make slime.

But after spending over 6 hours trying, all I had was a lot of wasted materials, batches of nasty, unusable gooey substances, and a splitting headache (that powdered borax always does a number on me!).

To say I was frustrated with slime making would be the understatement of the century. I put together a lot of our lessons learned and tips on slime here.

When looking up a slime recipe, one of the first things I noticed was that almost all of them called for liquid starch. As a Canadian I don’t have access to liquid starch. To demonstrate my own devotion to the slime cause, I even tried making my own liquid starch using a technique from an older military man, turned prepper. It still didn’t work!

Next I turned my attention to trying it with borax powder. Failure.

Plus the Canadian government advises against using borax powder around children, and I have lung and heart conditions that borax powder aggravates. So I ditched that idea pretty quickly.

I spent hours reading labels and searching for the one, rare brand of detergent that I was promised would work. It still failed. Probably because the exact magical laundry detergent I was told to find, couldn’t be found anywhere, and the others were poor substitutes.

It shouldn’t have been so hard. All I needed was a substance that would give the glue some stiffness and remove the stickiness. There had to be another answer. Finally I found it.

3 Simple Ingredients = Wildly fun bath time!

Three Crafty Girls Where Have You Been?

Then a friend sent me this video of three cute sisters calling themselves Three Crafty Girls. In the video they quickly and easily make this crazy, big, fluffy slime. The best part? The basics of their recipe were so simple. You could find them anywhere.

Where were these girls during my years of slime failures????

I was so excited. I raced down to my corner store, grabbed the one ingredient I didn’t have and within 5 minutes of getting home had my first successful batch of slime!

After that batch, we made 10 more. Each time playing with the recipe and technique, fine tuning it until it was so simple, so easy.

Slime That Is Soooooo Stretchy!

This slime is so stretchy my kids were able to stretch a single batch over 40 feet through my house before it finally broke!

Easy Way To Make Slime – So Quick, So Easy

You need three ingredients:

White Elmers School Glue (non-toxic, washable)
Baking Soda (known as bicarbonate soda in some places)
Buffered Saline Solution – You can find this in the eye care aisle. Make sure it is the buffered saline. In the States this will contain boric acid, but the one I bought here in Canada doesn’t have boric acid or sodium borate listed in the ingredients. It still worked though! Formulas may vary based on your location. Check the ingredients and ensure it is buffered saline, and it should work.
Optional – food coloring

Add a bottle of white glue to a bowl (I found this quite forgiving so just try and get most of the glue out of your bottle or if you buy in bulk estimate the portion). Sprinkle with 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda. Mix completely with a spoon. Add a few drops of food coloring if you want at this point and mix it in completely.

Now, start adding a few drops of the buffered saline and mixing with the spoon. Just do it a few drops at a time. It will start pulling together immediately. Continue adding a few drops, mixing it thoroughly. Repeat until it starts to pull into a stringy ball.

This next bit is how we find it works the best, put some buffered saline on your hands. Pick up the slime and start kneading and mixing it with your hands. It will be sticky, but only through working it will you get the best, stretchy slime. Work it really well. It will change into a better slime consistency as you work it.

How To Make Slime Less Sticky

If it is still sticky after a few minutes of kneading, add one or two drops of buffered saline. Continue working it in. Don’t add too much or you will start to lose the stretchy properties and become more prone to breaking. If you find your slime is breaking you are adding too much saline.

Voila! SLIME!

Pro Tip! If you are really struggling with how much buffered saline solution to use, try our latest Cornstarch Slime Recipe instead. It helps get the sticky out without ending up with breaking slime.

Playing with slime is a lot of fun, but parents need to be involved and informed. Please, read all labels. I can only speak to the products I can buy locally. The formulas and products in your area may have different ingredients or formulas which may produce different results. Extreme caution should be used if you are substituting any ingredients. Be informed and use appropriate safety steps. If you have any questions or concerns, speak to your doctor or local health practitioner. For more tips and safety precautions about slime, check out this article.

Check out how easy it is to make this slime!

It takes about 5 minutes to make this saline slime recipe. Video is set to double time. Enjoy!

How To Make Slime Stretchy Again If It Gets Hard or Breaks

I’ve had a lot of questions over time about what to do with slime that is too hard or breaking. If you are experiencing this, it is likely due to too much buffered saline in your slime. But what can you do once you have made the mistake?

There are two things you can try.

The first is to run the slime under warm/hot water. You can either do this just under the tap or using a bowl of water. Simply wet, knead and work in the water, then dip again and repeat. You might need to do this 2 or 3 times but it should bring back some of the stretch.

Another idea you can try is to add some hand lotion to your slime and work it in. Sometimes that will help bring back some of the elasticity.

My general feeling in this though is that slime should not be kept for any length of time. Make it, play with it and toss it. Then make another batch on another day. This is simple due to bacteria growth and I would rather err on the side of safety. Plus our recipe is so quick and easy, why play with old slime?