By

Those of you who have followed the blog for quite some time will remember that two years ago we discovered a way to make slime using laundry detergent.  And with the help of our UK readers, we were able to get feedback on local detergents that worked to make slime.  However, as time has gone on, I've heard more and more reports about the detergents not working and one reader (thanks, Leigh!) recently informed me via our Facebook page that she called Aldi and they said they've changed their detergent ingredients.  Because of this, we were inspired to try to find a NEW way to make slime that would work for our UK readers.  Based off of a tip from another reader, Sarah Hawthorne, who has been SO helpful throughout this whole slime investigation, I wanted to look into Kershaw's Laundry Starch Powder.  And I was THRILLED to find that I could get some shipped here to the US so that I could make you all a proper tutorial!


Below you will find our latest and greatest recipe for making slime (this is intended for readers in the UK -- if you are in the US or Canada, I recommend reading this post instead):

First you will need a bottle of PVA glue.  Our US bottles come in 4 oz (118 mL) sizes and that's what I've used here.  (There's some wiggle room in the recipe and in the UK it looks like PVA glue comes in all sorts of sizes, so just get as close to this amount as you can)


Empty the whole bottle into a container/bowl.  Add any coloring you'd like and stir until the color is evenly distributed:


Next, add two tablespoons of very warm water to another container.  Add 4 teaspoons* of Kershaw's Laundry Starch Powder and stir until it's completely dissolved.  The mixture will look a bit like milk:


Then add 6 teaspoons* of the milky starch-water mixture to your glue and stir very well.  After a minute or two, your glue will begin turning to slime.  It should look like this:

*If your slime does not look like that you may need to add more.  Apparently US teaspoons are a bit bigger than UK teaspoons, so you may need to add a few additional teaspoons....


And now it's time to fine tune your recipe.  Grab up the glob of slime and start kneading and mixing it by hand.  If after a minute or two of kneading it is still very sticky and sticking to your fingers, dribble another teaspoon of the starch-water mixture over it and continue kneading.  If, on the other hand your slime is too firm and not stretching, add a dollop of PVA glue and knead it in.


Adding more starch-water mixture will make your slime less sticky and more firm.
Adding more PVA glue will make your slime looser and more stretchy.

Keep your slime stored in an airtight container when you are not using it.  Your slime should keep for several weeks.  If it starts to get too sticky, just add more starch-water mixture to it.  If it gets too firm, add more PVA glue to loosen it up.




Comments

  1. I just come from living 3 years in Oxford, and I can not try it :(. I am form Spain, so if I can discover the perfect laundry starch to make it here, I will let you know ;)
    Ps: If you are form Spain and you know how to make it please let me know!!! :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I haven't been able to find anything in Spain yet, but I'll update this post if I ever do!

      Delete
    2. You can get it from Amazon for £3.40. hope that helped!X

      Delete
  2. Hi I work with children and am looking for a non-toxic recipe for gold goo or slime:) I've read your recipe using basil seeds but the texture is not what we were looking for. We do have access to Kershaw's Laundry Starch but I was wondering if that is safe to use with young children aged 3-4 years?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I don't know what all is in Kershaw's, but I wouldn't feel comfortable using a glue-based slime with any kiddos who might taste it, myself. Maybe you could try the fiber-based slime recipe out there?

      Delete
  3. Thanks so much for experimenting for us UK mums and dads. I had a go today. I did have to almost triple the amount of starch mix to get it to work. Do you remember if you used heaped teaspoons of the starch? I used level so maybe that's why I needed more.
    I am assuming US teaspoons and tablespoons are the same volume as the UK (5/15ml)...
    Can't wait to give it to little one tomorrow to see what she thinks of it 😀
    Thanks again xxx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh interesting -- a Google search shows that UK teaspoons are smaller than US teaspoons? So that's probably what happened. I'll make a note in the recipe that UK readers will likely need to use additional teaspoons. Thank you so much!!! :)

      Delete
    2. Nearly a year since I made this and our original batch is still going strong! I just have to add more pva every now and then. Even when it has gone reeeeeally dried out it perks back up with pva. Amazing! Thanks again so much for this recipe. You're awesome :)

      Delete
    3. WHOA! That's so cool! Thrilled to hear it's working so well and thank you!!!

      Delete
  4. You are amazing for doing this for us , the UK folk! Much appreciated. I love your amazing ideas! Thanks again

    ReplyDelete
  5. it works and easy to make this thanks for sharing and nice blog.........

    ReplyDelete
  6. Is this like the one showed all over Instagram

    ReplyDelete
  7. We've tried making it and the slime feels quite grainy and wet, we left in an airtight container over night and lots of water has come out of it. Any ideas what we're doing wrong! Thanks for your help, hoping the kids will enjoy it anyway!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hmmm, I wasn't able to use UK glue, but that shouldn't make too much difference. Did you dissolve the powder thoroughly in water before mixing it with the glue? And your glue has PVA in it? Can you try sending me photos so I can take a closer look? So sorry it's giving you trouble but hopefully we can figure it out. funathomewithkids@gmail.com

      Delete
  8. Ended up with a strange ball of rubber. Not very stretchy... Any suggestions? Thanks~

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That means not enough glue. Adding more glue should loosen it up!

      Delete
  9. Nvm i found bathing it in baby oil and playing with it turned it into good slime

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh cool! I'm glad that worked. More glue should also have fixed the problem. :)

      Delete
  10. What should be the consistency of the starch and water mixture? Should it be liquidy or thick like a sort of paste?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ours is sort of like thin buttermilk-ish consistency. So kind of in between. :)

      Delete
  11. Thanks for this recipe. I've been testing this out to try and make it foolproof enough use with a big group of kids. However I vary my mixture I seem to always end up with sort of rubbery silly putty, but I kind think the kids will like it. I'm wondering if with enough kneading it'll make fart noises :D

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Add less of the water/starch mixture for looser slime (or add more glue to what you've got). And yes, if you put it in a container like a plastic or glass cup and squish it around you'll get some good fart noises. Hahahahha

      Delete
    2. Thanks for replying. My mixtures were all a bit too sticky if I reduced the starch and so I decided to go with adding more and making reliable silly putty. The kids all had a great time. Thanks again.

      Delete
    3. Bummer! It must be something that's different between US and UK glue? At least the kids had a great time! :) :) :)

      Delete
  12. Thanks for the great recipe. I've now made a fluffy slime with equal parts PVA and shaving cream before adding the starch. Brilliant

    ReplyDelete
  13. does it have to be american glue. i am going to order some laundry starch hopefully this will come out great! thanks for this great recipe most things like borax and sta-flo are so expensive to buy from eBay and amazon from the UK once again thanks very much will be trying tomorrow i will tell you my end results. :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. No PVA school children's glue from the UK should work as well -- though you may need to use more or less of the Kershaw's+ water mixture than I am with a different glue. Let me know how it goes!

      Delete
  14. Just made this recipe and it was so easy .. It's fab although I did have to add nearly double the amount of starch. And I did get a little water at bottom of bag after it had been resting ..but I just tipped it out ... Can't wait to take it to nursery tomorrow thank you ��

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yeah the amount needed will vary depending on what sort of glue you use, so that sounds about right! So happy it worked well for you!

      Delete
  15. My daughter has been making slime with this recipe for the last few weeks - we have tried many different recipes but this one is the best and is very easy to do - thank you so much!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Where can u buy the kershaw starch in the UK??

      Delete
    2. You can click the link in the post for a listing on Amazon UK. It's a UK company so it's probably other places or you could maybe buy it directly from them? Hope that helps!

      Delete
    3. Here's the stuff I bought - Kershaw's Traditional Laundry Starch 500g (For Crisp Bed Linen) https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B000TAT0KW/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_8AB-ybEB4ZMCT

      Delete
  16. The recipe didn't work
    I tried adding more laundry starch and glue but nothing worked it always came out as a rubber ball.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. If you read the post above, I recommend adding more glue to loosen it. Adding more starch will only make it more of a rubber ball.

      Delete
  17. This slime works so well and is very easy to make. I didn't bother measuring anything out and just added starch until the right consistency. Going to make at my daughters science party this weekend. Thanks

    ReplyDelete
  18. Works perfectly lots more starch was needed. Thank you I have a very happy daughter

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sorry about that! All glues require different amounts so it's not too surprising to hear we needed different amounts. Glad you got it sorted!

      Delete
  19. Thank you for researching and finding a reliable U.K. recipe (finally). I used a standard medicine spoon, 5ml, to measure my ingredients, one 5ml for a tsp and 3 for a tblsp. I levelled the starch with a knife on the spoon and used ordinary school Blue Label PVA. Worked like a charm!

    ReplyDelete
  20. i could not get this to work at all , am so gutted it came out like milkshake everytime! the Glue said PVA on it,is it inferior that i got it in a pound shop ? its didn't thicken at all and i added the whole 4 teaspoons of Kershaws starch and it was still liquid 4 times i've tried, to no avail

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Can you send me a photo? funathomewithkids@gmail.com

      Otherwise you can try adding more Kershaw's. Are you making sure you dissolve the Kershaw's in water first? It takes different amounts when you switch glue brands, even here in the US. Maybe this is a particularly stubborn one that needs extra Kershaw's....

      Delete
  21. I would like to make magnetic slime how much iron filings should i use do you think.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I would look up a recipe for magnetic slime to find that answer. And please be VERY careful with the iron filings!!! They can be extremely dangerous so make sure you are using all the recommended safety precautions.

      Delete
  22. We have tried so many slime recipes without success. This worked first time and is AMAZING. Thank you so much for hours of fun.

    ReplyDelete
  23. This worked amazingly well, way better than the contact solution slime I tried. It really only took about 5 min for the slime to come together. Thank you.

    ReplyDelete
  24. Can you use the laundry starch with clear pva glue to make clear slime? Thanks the white glue method worked well.

    ReplyDelete
  25. We've tried loads of recipes and this is the only one we got to work. Perfect thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  26. Half way through I doubted this was going to work but sure enough I now have two very happy girls playing with their slime! Took a lot of pva additions to get the right result and each addition took some working in. Then we added glitter! Looks fab, thanks

    ReplyDelete


Well, hello there!

Click here to read more about us!

Powered by Blogger.

Translate