Inside: How to make liquid starch slime with only 2 ingredients. Find out why liquid starch slime is the easiest slime recipe to make!
The Easiest Slime Recipe
Two ingredients — it really doesn’t get any easier than that!
MY LATEST VIDEOSOver the past couple years, I’ve been dubbed a “slime blogger,” a nickname I wear proudly!
We’ve tried LOTS of different slime recipes — from fluffy slime, to glow-in-the-dark slime, to edible slime. I have to say that it is hard to pick a favorite because I love them all for different reasons!
However, if you asked me to pick the easiest slime recipe to make, hands-down it is liquid starch slime.
Why We Love Liquid Starch Slime
- You only need two base ingredients
- It is easy to customize by adding food coloring, glitter, etc.
- All you need to do is mix and stir!
- It’s stretchy, squishy, poke-able…perfect slime!
- Liquid starch slime can be the base for fluffy slime, floam, and more!
Keep reading to see exactly how we make liquid starch slime, as well as some of our best tips to make it perfectly every single time.
What is Liquid Starch and Where to Find It
For your convenience in re-creating our slime recipes, I’ve included shop-able ad links to some of the products we used. Our disclosure policy is available here.
Liquid starch is a laundry product used to keep natural fibers stiff — imagine a crisp button-up shirt and you’ll get the idea.
Because it contains a special ingredient (sodium borate or sodium tetraborate), liquid starch also make a perfect slime activator!
How Slime Activators Work
When making glue slime, you need a slime activator that contains an ingredient from the borate family. This could be borax powder, contact lens solution, or liquid starch (like in this recipe).
When you mix PVA glue (like Elmer’s white school glue) with your slime activator, a chemical bond forms. The borate ions in your activator form a link between the polymers in the glue. Instead of flowing freely like a liquid, this new slime solution becomes a stretchy semi-solid substance, also known as a non-Newtonian fluid.
I love how fellow blogger Sarah at Little Bins for Little Hands explains it:
Instead of flowing freely, the molecules become tangled and create the slimy substance. Think wet, freshly cooked spaghetti versus leftover cooked spaghetti!
When used for laundry purposes, concentrated liquid starch is diluted with water and sprayed onto clothes to achieve the desired effect. However, for our slime-making purposes, we’ll use the concentrated liquid starch.
In the United States, you can find liquid starch, like Sta-Flo (which is what we used) in most grocery stores or even craft stores. It is also available online on sites like Amazon.
TIP: If you live outside the United States and have trouble finding liquid starch, try our contact lens solution slime instead.
Slime Safety Tips
Before we get started, I always like to make sure we go over a few important details.
Slime is lots of fun and a wonderful sensory experience for kids! However, it’s important to make sure to follow all slime safety recommendations:
- This slime is not edible. Please do not taste or eat.
- Always supervise children when making and playing with any slime recipe.
- As with many slime recipes, this liquid starch slime involves a chemical reaction. Some ingredients may cause irritation to sensitive skin. Always wash hands thoroughly after play.
- Read this first: click here to read all of our tips to make slime safely.
For glue-free slime alternatives, check out our complete guide: How to Make Slime (without Glue or Borax)
Liquid Starch Slime Ingredients
- 1 cup PVA white school glue, like Elmer’s
- 1/4 – 1/2 cup liquid starch, like Sta-Flo
TIP: We stick with name brands like Elmer’s Glue because generic formulas don’t seem to work as well.
How to Make Slime with Liquid Starch
In this tutorial I’ll show you how to make the basic 2-ingredient liquid starch slime using white glue. Once you have this recipe, you can use it to make so many different slimes!
After you master the basic liquid starch slime recipe below, try these fun recipes:
Liquid Starch Slime Recipe
Pour glue into a mixing bowl.
TIP: If you’d like to customize your slime with food coloring and/or glitter, mix it into the glue before you add your activator.
Add 1/4 cup liquid starch and stir with a spoon or wooden craft stick until a cohesive ball of slime starts to form.
Finish kneading slime by hand.
TIP: It could take 2-3 minutes of working the slime to get just the right consistency. You’ve got to make sure that all of the glue and liquid starch mixes together so all of the solution has time for the chemical reaction to occur.
If after a few minutes your slime still sticks to hands, try adding more liquid starch (1 Tablespoon at a time), until slime is no longer excessively sticky.
How to Store Your Liquid Starch Slime
- After you’ve finished playing with your liquid starch slime for the day, keep in a sealed air-tight container. You could use a rubbermaid container or even a ziplock bag.
- To prolong the life of your slime, always wash hands before playing to minimize contamination.
Learn How to Make Slime Like a Pro
Liquid Starch Slime is one of our favorite basic slime recipes that are perfect for beginners! We also love contact lens solution slime and Oobleck because they are simple and provide the base for 100’s of other slime varieties!
Click here to learn how to make slime using our three starter recipes!
Be sure to pin our Easy Liquid Starch Slime on Pinterest:
Can’t Get Enough Slime??
Get 100 pages of slime recipes in our BRAND NEW updated edition of The Slime Book!
This book has been a labor of love over the past year, and we’re SO excited to share the NEW print version!
From seasonal & holiday slime, to glow-in-the-dark slime, there’s 43 recipes for hours of play! Many of them are brand new and never published! Now available in both print and digital format!
CLICK HERE to grab your copy of The Slime Book today!
Last updated on February 24th, 2019 at 03:09 pm
Have you ever thought about starting a blog of your own? Click here to find out more!
Follow the Soccer Mom Blog on Pinterest - Facebook- Twitter - Instagram
Leave a Reply