Everybody has seen the ever-growing slime trends going around online, and most children want to get in on the action.
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Making slime is a fun activity that anyone can take part in with the right ingredients. You can get creative making slime and add lots of different elements to make your very own science experiment at home.
Making slime is a great way to have fun, but it can also be an educational experience too. If you have run out of ways to keep the kids occupied, you can follow this simple slime recipe that uses liquid starch as its secret ingredient.
Liquid starch will help to give your slime a cool consistency that can stretch well without breaking.
The starch acts like a glue that will hold everything together and will provide you with an epic slime that can provide hours of entertainment for the whole family.
All you need to do is to follow these instructions and let the fun begin.
Where Can I Get Liquid Starch?
You have two options when it comes to getting your hands on liquid starch. The first of which is by visiting your local grocery store, which will more than likely have some available.
You can usually find this in the laundry aisle. If other slime fanatics get there first and clear the shelves before you get the chance, you can also find it online from a variety of retailers.
The other option is to make it yourself. This won’t give you the same awesome consistency that the original liquid starch does, but it will work if you have run out of other options. To make it, you will need:
- One tablespoon of cornstarch.
- Four separate cups of cold water.
The first thing that you will need to do is to boil 3 and ¾ cups of water in a pan. While you are waiting for this water to boil, take your remaining ¼ cup of water, and add one tablespoon of cornstarch. Mix the two together until the cornstarch has completely dissolved.
When your water has finished boiling, pour the cornstarch mixture into the water, but keep stirring as you do so. If you want to make extra unique slime, you can add 2-3 drops of essential oils into the mixture and have scented slime.
Keep stirring your mixture for another full minute and make sure to stir it while you do.
After the last step, your liquid starch mixture should be ready. Take the pan off of the heat and wait for the mixture to cool down before you use it. Now you are fully prepared to start making your slime.
How to Make Slime With Liquid Starch
Now that you have the essential ingredient, liquid starch, you can begin the slime-making process.
For this liquid starch recipe, you will need the following ingredients:
- ½ cup of liquid starch.
- ½ cup of Elmer’s glue.
- ¼ cup of water.
- Glitter and food colouring (optional extras).
Instructions for This Slime Recipe
Once you have all of your ingredients ready to go, the only thing left to do is to start making your slime.
- The first thing that you need to do is to add your ½ cup of glue to a bowl.
- Next, stir in ¼ cup of water.
- If you have decided to add any extra special ingredients, now is the time to do it. You can add food colouring or glitter to make your slime stand out.
- Now it is time to add the ½ cup of liquid starch and slowly stir it as you go.
- Remove your mixture from the bowl and place it on to a mat. Now you can start to knead your slime until it is completely perfect. It might be quite sticky at first, but the more you play with it, the less sticky it will become. You can add a little bit of extra liquid starch if it is too sticky, but make sure not to over-do it.
- Now your slime will be ready to play with. Make sure you store it in a sealed container or ziplock bag when you are finished, so it doesn’t go hard.
Top Tips for Making Slime With Liquid Starch
Slime is going to be a messy experiment, so it is best to embrace the mess in the name of science. It will be worth it when you have your finished product in your hands.
Your slime shouldn’t be so sticky that you can’t play with it. If this is the case, you can add some extra liquid starch which should fix this problem.
If this doesn’t work, you can also use contact solution, but make sure that it has either sodium borate or boric acid in the ingredients as they are the things that you need.
Be persistent with your slime, the more that you play with it, the less sticky it will be.
If something in the making process has gone wrong, you might find that your slime is too stringy, which makes it not as fun to play with. If this has happened with your slime, you might have added a little bit too much liquid starch.
You can sometimes fix this problem by adding some more water or glue to balance the ingredient ratio, but more often than not, you will need to start again.
Standard Elmer’s glue can make your slime more cloudy in colour, for the best results, and to be able to see the glitter better, use clear Elmer’s glue.
If you want larger quantities of slime, you can double the amounts of ingredients needed for the recipe. Just make sure that the ratio of the measurements remains the same.
It is probably a good idea to supervise any children that are messing around with slime, just to be on the safe side.
It is usually best to make and play with the slime in a kitchen area so you can avoid getting it stuck in carpets and other fabric furniture. For those with long hair, make sure to tie it back, so the slime doesn’t get stuck in your hair.
If either of these things were to happen, we’ve heard that the best way to remove the slime is using vinegar. However, before you start pouring vinegar all over your furniture, test it on a small patch first to make sure it doesn’t damage it.
As a parent of a five-year-old inquisitive boy, I have gained a lot of experience finding fun activities and toys to help him understand science and understanding our world in general. On this blog, you’ll find an extensive amount of tutorials, guides, and toys about Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math based on my personal experience to help your child develop critical STEM skills.
