There isn’t a single named person credited with “inventing slime”; the mass‑market Slime toy was created and introduced by Mattel as a product in February 1976, rather than being publicly attributed to an individual inventor.
What “slime” refers to
- In toys, “Slime” refers to Mattel’s gooey, non‑toxic, guar‑gum‑based compound sold in little plastic trash cans starting in 1976, which popularized the concept for kids’ play worldwide.
- The material’s formula used guar gum and sodium tetraborate (borax), with later variations and related compounds like polyvinyl‑alcohol “flubber” also marketed in similar contexts.
Mattel’s 1976 launch
- Mattel launched Slime in February 1976, packaging it as a green, oozy material and later releasing themed variants (e.g., with rubber insects) and tie‑ins like the Slime Monster board game.
- The brand and format influenced many later toy lines and playsets across the late 1970s–1990s, cementing Mattel’s Slime as the origin of the modern toy category.
Notable later expansions
- The idea of slime spread into pop culture franchises and TV, but those uses (e.g., Nickelodeon “slime”) are distinct in composition and history from Mattel’s original toy product.
