Nothing says Christmas like the red and white stripes of the classic candy cane! We love to take traditional Christmas themes and turn them into fun slime recipes. Today we have an easy Candy Cane Slime Recipe to share with you. Just one of many awesome Christmas slime recipes we have for you to try!
HOW TO MAKE CANDY CANE SLIME
WHAT IS THE STORY BEHIND THE CANDY CANE?
Traditionally, candy canes are white with red stripes and flavored with peppermint. But you get them in a variety of colors and flavors.
It is thought candy canes originated in Germany in the 1600’s with a choirmaster who wanted to keep the children quiet during a Christmas Eve service. He requested “sugar sticks” from a local candy maker and then had a crook added to the top to remind the children about the shepherds who visited baby Jesus.
They became more well known in the 1800’s and 1900’s. Earlier candy canes were made by hand, and the sticks would be hand bent to make the curve shape. Later, this would be done by machine.
MORE FUN CANDY CANE ACTIVITIES…
Dissolving Candy Canes Fluffy Candy Cane Slime Bending Candy Canes Peppermint Lollipop Crystal Candy Canes Candy Cane Bath Bomb
EASY CANDY CANE SLIME
This candy cane slime below uses only a few grocery store ingredients. Pick them up on the way home! All our holiday slimes have been a real hit including our gingerbread slime and Grinch slime ideas!
I may say this about each of our slime recipes, but I think this is the prettiest one yet. Slime is definitely one of our 12 Favorite Sensory Play Recipes! Slime is an awesome way for kids to explore with their senses, particularly the sense of touch!
This time we actually focused on mixing the two colors together, and it was visually stunning. Plus we got to play with two loads of slime at the same time. That’s a huge amount of slime for one little boy!
He added all sorts of kitchen tools as you can see from scoops to salad tongs. Another fun in the kitchen type of sensory play is called oobleck and we made an awesome candy cane oobleck to explore Non-newtonian fluids with a holiday theme.
HOW DOES SLIME WORK?
What’s the science behind the slime? The borate ions in the starch {or borax powder or boric acid} mixes with the PVA {polyvinyl-acetate} glue and forms this cool stretchy substance. This is called cross-linking!
The glue is a polymer and is made up of long, repeating, and identical strands or molecules. These molecules flow past one another keeping the glue in a liquid state.
The addition of water is important to this process. Think about when you leave a gob of glue out, and you find it hard and rubbery the next day.
When you add the borate ions in the slime activator to the mixture, it starts to connect these long strands together. They begin to tangle and mix until the substance is less like the liquid you started with and is thicker and rubberier like slime!
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE ABOUT THE BASICS OF SLIME SCIENCE FOR KIDS
Don’t forget to grab your FREE set of Christmas STEM challenges…
CANDY CANE SLIME RECIPE
Here you will make two batches of slime; one with white glue and the other with clear glue or white glue and food coloring.
You can use white or clear glue for both batches of the candy cane slime recipe with equally wonderful results. Just remember that you will need to add more red food coloring to white glue for a deeper shade of red.
SUPPLIES:
- 1/2 Cup of Washable PVA Clear Glue or White Glue
- 1/4 Cup of Liquid Starch
- 1/2 Cup of Water
- Red food coloring {goes with clear glue slime}
HOW TO MAKE CANDY CANE SLIME
STEP 1: In a bowl mix together the water and white glue for your first batch of slime.
STEP 2: Pour in 1/4 cup of liquid starch. You will see the slime immediately start to form. Keep stirring until you have a gooey blob of slime. The liquid should be gone!
STEP 3: Start kneading your slime! It will appear stringy at first but just work it around with your hands and you will notice the consistency changes. You can also put it in a clean container and set it aside for 3 minutes, and you will also notice the change in consistency!
STEP 4: Repeat for your second batch of slime. Make sure to add red food coloring when you mix together the water and glue.
Eventually, the colors will mix completely together, and you will have more of a bubble gum colored slime! No matter what color your slime ends up it will still be tons of fun.
This is wonderfully simple sensory play that does not leave the hands messy at all! It’s a must try this season. Plus, it is truly EASY. I was always hesitant to make slime and now we make our homemade slime all the time!
ALSO CHECK OUT: Candy Cane Fluffy Slime Recipe
EASY TO MAKE CANDY CANE SLIME FOR CHRISTMAS!
Click on any of the images below for more fun Christmas ideas for kids!
Christmas STEM Activities 
Christmas Crafts DIY Christmas Ornaments Christmas Tree Crafts Christmas Slime Recipes Advent Calendar Ideas
Stress Balls For Kids You Can Make Yourself
Theresa
This is awesome. I can’t wait to feature it in my upcoming candy cane crafts, activities and recipes round-up! We will be trying it out at home too.
Daniele
Looks like a blast! Can’t wait to try it. Can this slime be saved and reused or should I trash it after one day of play?
Ashley
I am definitely going to try this! LB has been begging me to make slime lately, and I just picked up the glue for it yesterday! Shared on Twitter 🙂
Janie
You can play with it as long as you want, as long as it doesn’t dry out.