Edible Gummy Bear Slime (and the Science Behind It)

Gummy Bear Slime. How to make this edible slime and the science of how it works.

• Ages: Toddler, Preschool, PreK, Kindergarten
• Difficulty: Medium
• Learning: Sensory, Slime Science

Kids love candy. Kids love slime. So making slime out of candy is obviously a good idea.

And it can be so simple!

Did you know you can take gummy bears and turn them into a super fun slime with just 2 ingredients? Seriously, that’s all it takes. This slime is perfect for kids who love slime, and it is even better because it is completely taste safe.

Time to make gummy bear slime. (And you can scroll down to the bottom to get free printable instructions!)

Gummy Bear Slime

This slime is easy to make in terms of the actual process. There are only 2 main ingredients and just a handful of steps.

But it will create an afternoon full of fun. Your children can really observe the transformation process from candy to slime, which is super cool. And it is pretty tasty too.

Supplies for Gummy Bear Slime

You only need a few ingredients for this fun edible slime.

• Gummy Bears
• Cornstarch
• Coconut Oil

Other types of oil work too, but we used coconut oil. If you want to make this taste even sweeter, use a little powdered sugar. I wanted this to be edible, but not a full-on snack. So cornstarch for us.

How To Make Gummy Bear Slime

This is an easy slime to make, but it does require adult help since part of it will get hot.

Step 1: Separate your gummies by color. You can use more than one color to make this, but we liked having the slime be all the same color. Plus for younger kids, this is good practice at sorting.

Step 2: Add 1 cup of gummy bears to a microwave safe bowl. Microwave for 10 seconds and stir.

Step 3: Continue microwaving at 5-10 second intervals and stirring until your gummies are melty and an even consistency. This is where you want an adult to supervise. Hot and sticky can be a dangerous combination.

Step 4: Add about 1 tablespoon of cornstarch. Start with about a tablespoon and mix. Wait for a few minutes to let the mixture cool a little bit.

Step 5: Once cooled, keep mixing your slime. Add more cornstarch as needed to get the consistency you like.

If your slime is too sticky, add more cornstarch. If it is too stiff and dry, add a little bit of coconut oil. (The oil can also be helpful to keep the slime from sticking to your hands.)

Step 6: Enjoy your slime!

Safety and Clean Up

This is a slime that will need adult participation. The hot melted gummy bears need to be handled with care. It should not get on anyone’s skin and no one should taste that step.

In terms of ingredients, this is very safe. All the materials used are edible, so your child can taste every part. It won’t necessarily taste that amazing, but it won’t hurt them.

For clean up, throw away the slime. Do not put it down the drain. Scrape as much extra cornstarch and melted gummy bear out of your bowl and into the garbage as possible. Use hot water to soak your bowl to clean.

This slime is best for one-time use. It can be stored in an air-tight container at room temperature overnight though.

Tips To Have Even More Fun

Like I said, this is a very sticky slime. There are a few ways to combat this.

• Keep extra cornstarch nearby to add as needed.
• Coat your hands in coconut oil before play.
• Use cooking spray on your hands or play surface to prevent stickiness.

As you add more cornstarch you might find that your playdough becomes stiffer. This is okay, you just went from slime to play dough! Both are fun to play with.

---

Here are more great activities you must try.

---

The Science of Gummy Bear Slime

So how is this slime coming together?

What Is Slime?

The first thing we should look at is what slime is exactly. Slime is a non-Newtonian fluid. The short definition of this is that it behaves as a liquid until a force is applied to it. Then it behaves more like a solid.

In other words, slime flows and takes the shape of the container it is in when just left alone or handled gently. But if you push hard on it or squeeze it, the slime feels hard like a solid.

Polymer Chains

Slime needs polymer chain crosslinking to maintain their unique slime properties as well.

Polymer chains are just long chains of repeating molecules. For slime made out of candy like this gummy bear slime or jelly bean slime, those polymer chains are a result of gelatin and sugar mixing together in the candy.

What takes these polymer chains from just strands floating around to slime that has some cohesive properties is polymer cross-linking. This means you need some sort of activator to link the chains together while still letting them move around and flow a bit.

Polymer Cross-Linking

You know what is a good activator to create polymer cross-linking? Cornstarch.

Heating up the gummy bears lets the sugars and gelatin form their polymer chains and flow around. But left alone this mixture would go back to the jello-like form (that is a more solid form) once it has cooled.

The cornstarch is what creates the linking that gives slime its unique properties of sticking together but being still oozing around as we play with it. This is what makes it slime.

You can learn more about the science of slime here: Slime Science for Kids!

Sensory STEM Learning

Why is this a valuable learning activity for kids?

There are two main areas we are focusing on with this activity, sensory learning and STEM learning.

Sensory Learning

Sensory activities are an incredible way for kids to learn. The hands-on nature of them enhances engagement and retention. Here are just a few things that kids are working on when doing sensory play:

• Develop language skills
• Boost brain development
• Enhances calming and emotional regulation
• Memory enhancement
• Better information retention

You can learn more about why sensory play is so important here: The Big Benefits of Sensory Play. The short version is that children learn more, learn faster, and retain what they are learning better through sensory activities.

Science Learning

Even if you don’t dive into a conversation about polymer chains (and trust me, you don’t have to), this is still a fun science project. Even toddlers are taking in information about the world they live in.

Cause and Effect

What happens when we microwave the gummy bears? What happens after we add cornstarch?

These are times we can practice thinking about cause and effect. Knowing that an action creates a response and being able to find the connections between events is an important STEM skill.

Observation Skills

I feel like I say this one all the time, but observation skills are so important for STEM. If you can’t observe what is going on in a situation you have no chance of figuring out what is going on. Science relies on observations.

Ask your children what they see, smell, hear, touch, and taste throughout this activity. (This also goes back to the sensory learning of language development as they name what they observe.)

States of Matter

I know the idea of a non-Newtonian fluid might be a big one for our littlest scientists, but this activity is great for talking about states of matter in general!

We started with our solid gummy bears and melted them to a liquid-like state. What would happen if we didn’t add the cornstarch and just let the melted gummy bears cool off? They would solidify again!

While you are doing this activity you can talk about the differences between solids, liquids, and gases. Talk about how matter goes from one state to another in terms of melting, freezing, evaporating, sublimating, etc.

To adults, these things might seem really basic, but for kids, this is the science they need to be learning. They are learning how the world works.

---

Get even more homemade slimes and play doughs!

---

Yummy Science with Edible Gummy Bear Slime

This slime can get sticky, but even with the cornstarch it stays pretty tasty. It’s a fun way to boost science and sensory learning. Your kids are going to love this.

---

Let’s find your next fun activity!

---