DIY Glitter Slime & Water Beads

There’s something really fun about making homemade slime. Mixing up a batch of slime is Chemistry that kids can do themselves! In addition to making the basic colored slime, kids can add all sorts of mix-ins like glitter and water beads! We made dark purplish blue slime with glitter and aqua water beads. We were really surprised to discover how the water beads acted within the slime. My kids have made many batches of slime, and somehow the slime making process never gets old.

Try making your own batch of glitter slime with water beads mixed in. This interesting sensory slime combination requires a little prep work. First, you need to hydrate the water beads ahead of time, by soaking them in water overnight (or for 8 hours).

Easy Homemade Slime

Once the water beads are hydrated and ready, it’s time to mix up a batch of homemade slime. You can make your slime in any color.

Make this borax free slime by mixing baking soda and clear craft glue with contact solution containing boric acid and sodium borate, to make the glue molecules stick together. You can experiment with different slime consistencies. Incidentally, the more contact solution you add, the thicker the slime becomes. Add a spoonful of water to make your slime stretchier.

Slime Ingredients

• 1 cup clear glue
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• several drops of food coloring
• sprinkle of glitter (optional)
• squirt of contact solution (with ingredients boric acid and sodium borate)

Mix together the glue and baking soda in a small bowl or container. Add the food coloring and glitter, mixing until combined. Finally, add a squirt of contact solution containing boric acid and sodium borate. As you mix the contact solution into the slime, it will get stretchier and thicker. Soon the mixture will ball up and pull away from the sides of the bowl. The more you play with your slime the better it gets!

Add water beads to your homemade slime. The water beads will slip in and out of the slime because each sphere is slippery itself. I recommend playing with slime and water beads in a medium storage box with sides, because the water beads easily bounce around.

Stretchy Slime & Slippery Water Beads

Playing with borax free slime and water beads is a unique sensory experience that kids will enjoy experimenting with. The water beads create slippery spheres inside the slime. You can also break apart the water beads and further mix them into the slime. Water beads are fairly sturdy, until you apply enough pressure with your fingers to split them apart. My kids enjoy playing with both slime and water beads, so mixing these two sensory mediums together creates an interesting substance to squeeze and stretch.

The slime initially sticks to the water beads, but the water beads also easily slip out of the slime and bounce around. Because of this, a medium storage box with sides makes a great play space for playing with water beads and homemade slime.

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This purplish blue slime with glitter looks even more galaxy-inspired with aqua water beads mixed in. Kids can stretch this slime, mold it into shapes and fold it over onto itself. The water beads feel like jelly and remain separate from the slime when mixed together. The spheres bounce around and kids can split them apart or mash the water beads into smaller jelly particles.

 

Overall, playing with homemade glitter slime and water beads is an interesting sensory experience. My kids enjoy doing activities like this for a hands-on homeschool activity. Water beads and borax free slime is fun for kids of all ages who enjoy mixing ingredients together. Kids may be surprised to learn how the slime and water beads interact with each other.

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Do you think your kids would enjoy playing with this interesting “twist” to making homemade slime?