DIY Candy Slime Recipe

This candy slime recipe for kids turns leftover chewy Halloween candy into a smooth, stretchy slime you can pull and twist.

 

Materials you’ll need

• chewy fruit candies, unwrapped (one small bowlful per color)
• cornstarch (per color)
• powdered sugar (per color)
• microwave-safe bowl (ask a grown-up to handle this)
• microwave (ask a grown-up to handle this)
• silicone spatula
• glass baking dish
• measuring cup

⚠️ Warning: Grown-ups only on the microwave and the melted candy. Use a microwave-safe bowl and keep oven mitts nearby for the hot bowl. Stir with a spatula, never fingers, because melted candy holds its heat and sticks to skin. Never touch or knead the candy until it has cooled in the powder and feels comfortable to hold. Soak the sticky bowl and spatula in warm water to clean up.

Step-by-step tutorial

Step 1: Unwrap a small bowlful of chewy fruit candies in one color and put them in a microwave-safe bowl.

Step 2: With a grown-up, microwave the candy for 30 seconds, then stir it with a silicone spatula. Keep microwaving in 30-second bursts and stirring until the candy is completely melted and smooth.

Step 3: In a glass baking dish, mix 1/2 cup of cornstarch and 1/2 cup of powdered sugar.

Step 4: Have a grown-up pour the melted candy into the powder. Stir with the spatula to coat the candy on all sides.

Step 5: Let the candy cool in the powder until it feels comfortable to touch.

Step 6: Knead the candy with your hands, folding in the powder, until it turns smooth and stretchy. Pull it, twist it, and see how far it goes.

Step 7: Repeat Steps 1 to 6 with other candy colors. Then press your colors together and twist them into one swirly, striped rope!

Learn more

Here’s the candy science: chewy candy is viscoelastic, which means it acts a little like a thick liquid and a little like a stretchy solid. Scientists who studied saltwater taffy found it’s a sugar syrup packed with tiny oil droplets and air bubbles. When you stretch the candy, those droplets and bubbles try to spring back into round shapes, which makes it extra springy and chewy. Heat from the microwave softens the candy so it melts into one gooey blob. Cornstarch soaks up moisture, so coating the warm candy in cornstarch and powdered sugar keeps it from sticking to your hands while you knead it smooth.

Hooked on stretchy, springy slime? Slime-Powered Sound Machine lets kids put slime to work in a machine that turns pumped air into vibrations and sound waves.