Borax-Free Slime or Gak Dough (2024)

We have a new creation to share with you and it is crazy cool!

It all started like a regular Sunday morning. But then I saw this video about WABA Kinetic Sand in my newsfeed. I watched and was intrigued. I was pretty sure I could make something like it (I've never actually touched WABA Kinetic Sand but I felt like I could make something that behaved similarly), so I set out to do just that. All of my experimenting eventually led to a dough that behaves a lot like slime or gak. But is totally borax-free. It's a great alternative for folks who are concerned about the chemicals in traditional gak or slime recipes. This slime recipe calls for common household ingredients - you could (probably) even make some today! If you're looking to make a traditional slime and you are from the UK or Australia, be sure to check out this post on how to make slime with laundry detergent (with links to UK and Aussie ingredients).

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Why did we not go with something that had sand in it? Well the sand dough I created did behave like the WABA Kinetic Sand(Woohoo! I love when my crazy ideas work out!), but it didn't FEEL like it. Kinetic Sand is light and fluffy and almost crumbly. Our version moved like Kinetic Sand, but felt more like a slime. Also, when S and I went to add color to it, it just wouldn't take. The coloring kept coming off on our hands. We LOVE color, so I decided to try a batch minus the sand. It took a few tweaks, but I made a sand-free version and it was even cooler!

It's suuuuper stretchy, and when you let it rest, it oozes just like our Golden Slime did. It's got a beautiful shine to it once it settles. We dyed ours blue usingliquid watercolors(I'm pretty sure you could substitute food coloring, though you may get a slight stain on your hands from playing with it if you do).

S figured out that she could make a handprint.

And then we slowly watched it disappear.

It's hard to capture the oozy/melty nature of it on camera, but these shots are all a few dozen seconds apart.

Look at the crazy stretch it has!

S loved making patterns on it and then watching them soften and fade.

And if you take a great big handful and wait, it does this awesome flowy slide down your arm.

And yet, you can still make it into a ball.

S also enjoyed making crazy sculptural art with it.

It does get dry as you play with it. We played with ours for quite some time, and needed to add a little water to rehydrate it (we'd basically get our hands wet and then continue playing). Before I stored it in an airtight container, I just made sure to mix a small amount of water back in (around 1/4 teaspoon was plenty).

It can get messy/crumbly as you go, so either playing with a splat mat or taking the play outside might a good idea.

You want to make your own now? I hope so! Here's our official Slime Dough recipe:

6 tablespoons water

A few notes on the recipe:

If you are in the UK, cornstarch is the same as cornflour. As far as the shampoo goes, we used Suave Green Apple Shampoo because it was 99 cents and smelled like apples (yum!) - to my knowledge, any type of shampoo will work. Mix the shampoo and the food coloring/liquid watercolor together before adding it to the cornstarch. Once the color is evenly distributed throughout the shampoo, add mixture to your cornstarch. Mix well with a spoon. You will have little crumbly bits at this point. Add the water one tablespoon at a time. Depending on how much dye you've added, you may need more or less water. Your dough should roll into a ball (if it's too gooey to roll into a ball, add more cornstarch); it should also have a nice shine to it and "melt" in your hands (if it's not melting and not shiny, add a wee bit more water). As I mentioned above, if you are playing for an extended period of time, you may find that you need to wet your hands to keep the dough hydrated.

We have ours stored in a sealed Gladware - the Slime Dough looks like this once it's settled. In the morning I needed to mix in around 1/4 teaspoon more water to get it "melting" again.

And there you have it! We hope you will set off to make your own crazy cool Slime Dough!

For another fun and crazy sensory dough, check out Creative Playhouse's Bubble Dough!

All activities here are activities I feel are safe for my own children. As your child's parents/guardians, you will need to decide what you feel is safe for your family. I always encourage contacting your child's pediatrician for guidance if you are not sure about the safety/age appropriateness of an activity. All activities on this blog are intended to be performed with adult supervision. Appropriate and reasonable caution should be used when activities call for the use of materials that could potentially be harmful, such as scissors, or items that could present a choking risk (small items), or a drowning risk (water activities), and with introducing a new food/ingredient to a child (allergies). Observe caution and safety at all times. The author and blog disclaim liability for any damage, mishap, or injury that may occur from engaging in any of these activities on this blog.