Kinetic Sand Slime Recipe
An awesome sensory play experience! Kinetic sand slime is stretchy with a unique texture like no other slime!
Kinetic Sand Slime
Kinetic sand has always been a favorite boredom buster in our house! The girls will play with it for hours on end — and I have to admit that it is very relaxing to play with even as an adult!
I just love how kinetic sand flows through your fingers, but you can also mold it into shapes!
If you’ve followed our blog at all, you might have noticed that we make a lot of slime recipes…like…a LOT!!
So what would happen if we made a combination of kinetic sand and slime? You KNOW we had to find out!! And that is how this kinetic sand slime recipe was born!
What is Kinetic Sand?
Kinetic sand is an amazing sensory play experience! It looks like sand at first glance, but sure doesn’t act like it!
Kinetic sand is sand that has been treated with silicone polymers so that the individual sand particles stick to each other, but not surfaces like your hands or a table.
I would compare kinetic sand to oobleck in the sense that both of them feel solid when you push on them, but will also flow or stretch when left alone.
Our kinetic sand slime does not actually use kinetic sand in the recipe, but gets its name because the resulting slime feels like a combination of kinetic sand and slime!
TIP: Learn how to make kinetic sand at home here!
Sand Slime Ingredients
For your convenience in creating this recipe, we’ve included shop-able ad links to some of the products used; disclosure policy available here.
- White school glue — Normally I’m all about saving money, but when it comes to slime, Elmer’s works the best!
- Water
- Food coloring — Use a color that matches your play sand for especially vibrant slime! We love gel food coloring because the results are so bright and only takes a couple drops!
- Liquid starch — Our slime activator for this recipe
- Play sand — We used Crayola Play Sand for our slime and it turned out fantastic! If using another brand, look for craft sand or art sand.
How to Make Kinetic Sand Slime
First you’ll combine the glue and water in a large mixing bowl. I always use a pretty big bowl so when I’m whipping up my slime it stays in the bowl and doesn’t splash everywhere.
When the glue mixture is nice and runny, then you can add a couple drops of food coloring. Seriously, just a couple drops will do it! Otherwise your slime will be more likely to stain hands. You don’t have to use food coloring at all, but it does make extra bright slime!
Now we’ll add our activator, which for this recipe is liquid starch. Add the liquid starch 1/4 cup at a time, mixing as you go, until your slime clumps together in a cohesive ball.
Once slime has formed, it’s time to mix in the play sand. I also did this little by little – maybe 1/3 cup at a time – until the sand starts to fall out of the slime. Finish kneading by hand.
Why is my slime sticky?
All slime will be a little bit sticky! However, if your slime is so sticky that it’s hard to play with because it just sticks to hands and won’t stay together, this is likely under-activated slime.
The simple fix for under-activated slime is to add more activator (liquid starch) a little bit at a time until your slime is no longer too sticky to play with.
Why does my slime feel hard?
If your slime feels hard or won’t stretch, there are a couple possible reasons:
- Your slime is over-activated (too much liquid starch).
- The sand you used may contain additives that affect the texture of the slime.
- There is too much sand in your slime.
The best fix we’ve found for making sand slime stretchy again is to put the slime in a bowl with warm (not boiling!) water and allow it to soak for a few minutes. Then you’ll massage the water into the slime until it becomes soft.
More troubleshooting tips: Watch this video to see how to fix overactivated slime!
Safety Tips
- Always supervise children when making or playing with slime.
- This slime recipe is NOT edible.
- We recommend playing with your slime on a tray or silicone mat for easier clean up. Avoid playing in an area with carpets or other porous materials where slime could get stuck.
Read this next: How to Make Slime Safely (includes safety tips for making ALL types of slime)
More of our Favorite Slime Recipes
This sand slime is a variation of our liquid starch slime recipe, which is one of our 3 basic slimes! Once you master these starter recipes, you can make almost anything!
Click here to learn how to make slime using our three starter recipes!
Kinetic Sand Slime Recipe (Printable Copy)
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Kinetic Sand Slime Recipe
Equipment
- Mixing bowls
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup white glue
- 1/2 cup water
- 2 drops food coloring optional
- 1/4 cup liquid starch
- 1 cup play sand
Instructions
- Combine 1/2 cup white glue and 1/2 cup water in a mixing bowl. Stir until combined and the glue becomes runnier.
- Add 2 drops of food coloring that matches the color of your play sand and stir until well mixed.
- Add 1/4 cup liquid starch and stir until glue begins to thicken. Add another 1/4 cup liquid starch and stir until slime clumps together in a cohesive ball (but it will still be sticky).
- Add 2/3 cup play sand and stir until all sand is incorporated. If your slime is still sticky, you can add another 1/3 cup of play sand. It's ok if a little sand drops out of the slime until you have the perfect texture.
- Finish kneading by hand.
Video
Pin our sand slime recipe on Pinterest:
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