Edible Slime from Starburst Candy
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Looking for a fun edible slime recipe that kids can safely play with and taste? This edible Starburst slime is made from just three simple ingredients and turns colorful candy into a stretchy, squishy sensory activity.
Unlike traditional slime recipes, this taste-safe slime is made entirely from food ingredients, making it a fun option for younger children who still like to explore with their mouths. It’s part science experiment, part sensory play, and part sweet treat!
Kids love stretching, squishing, twisting, and mixing the colors together to create their own rainbow slime creations.
The Starburst slime is stretchy and pretty sticky. It is more clay-like in consistency and works best to play with when it is a little warm. It is easy to make, but does need some adult supervision since cooking is involved. This edible slime only has 3 ingredients! If you have ever made homemade marshmallow fondant for cake decorating, it is a LOT like that.
Want my whole collection of edible slimes? Grab my Edible Slime Recipes book!
Why Kids Love This Edible Slime
This Starburst slime is one of our favorite edible slime recipes because it is:
- Made with only 3 ingredients
- Completely taste-safe
- Bright and colorful
- Stretchy and squishy
- Easy to customize with different candy flavors
- A fun introduction to kitchen science
It feels a little like taffy, a little like slime, and a little like edible play dough all at the same time!
How to Make Edible Starburst Slime:
Ingredients
- 1 Bag of Starburst Candies
- Powdered Sugar
- Cornstarch (I believe it’s called corn flour in the UK)
Instructions:
Gather materials. You will want a couple of small glass bowls and a pot of water to cook on the stove (or a microwave). Divide the Starburst candies by color or flavor and unwrap. Place each color into a small glass bowl.
Mix ¼ cup of powdered sugar (or icing sugar) with ¼ cup of cornstarch or cornflour.
Boil a pot of water and place the glass bowl into the pot to melt the Starburst candies. (Making it like a double boiler). Stir regularly to prevent burning. Once melted, remove from heat. You can also do it in the microwave for 2 – 30 second increments, stirring in between.
Turn onto a surface dusted with the cornstarch and powdered sugar mixture. Wait about five minutes until cooled. It can burn you at this point, so REALLY be careful! Warn your younger children to not touch quite yet.
Knead the melted candy with the powdered sugar mixture. Be sure to pull it and stretch it as you knead to let a lot of air into it. This will help it to be less sticky and a more stretchy texture.
Now it is time to play! This stuff is so much fun! Make sure to wash their hands first if they want to eat their Starburst slime. My kids wanted to immediately mix all of the colors and see how it looked. (If you got different varieties of starbursts, this could easily be a rainbow slime!)
Edible Slime from Starburst Candy
Make an fun stretchy edible slime made from Starburst candy! You can play with it and eat it!
- 1 bag Starburst
- 1/4 cup Powdered Sugar
- 1/4 cup Corn Starch
- Mix together corn starch and powdered sugar
- Unwrap the candies and divide by color into separate bowls.
- Microwave each color for 30 seconds at a time stirring between, until melted.
- Turn onto a surface dusted with the cornstarch and powdered sugar mixture. Wait about five minutes until cooled. It can burn you at this point, so REALLY be careful!
- Knead the melted candy with the powdered sugar mixture. Be sure to pull it and stretch it as you knead to let a lot of air into it. This will help it to be less sticky and more stretchy.
This is only soft and stretchy while warm, so it has a short play time. Make sure hands are clean when playing so eating is ok.
IF IT LASTS, you can store it in a sealed container for a few days. Kids of all ages (and some adults) will love this!
Troubleshooting
Why Is My Starburst Slime Too Sticky?
Add more powdered sugar and cornstarch mixture while kneading.
Why Is My Slime Too Hard?
Warm it slightly in the microwave for a few seconds.
Why Isn’t It Stretchy?
Continue kneading to incorporate more air.
The Science Behind Starburst Slime
- Heat melts the candy, making the sugar molecules more flexible.
- Kneading introduces air, similar to pulling taffy.
- Cornstarch helps absorb moisture and reduce stickiness.
- Powdered sugar changes the texture and makes it easier to handle.
- As the slime cools, it becomes firmer because the melted sugars begin to solidify again.
Love Edible Slime Recipes?
This Starburst slime is just one of the fun recipes included in my Edible Slime Recipe Book. If your kids love sensory play, kitchen science, and candy-based experiments, you’ll find even more edible slime recipes made with ingredients you already have at home.
Inside you’ll find:
- Marshmallow Slime
- Gummy Bear Slime
- Chocolate Slime
- Laffy Taffy Slime
- Swedish Fish Slime
- and more edible sensory activities
Perfect for homeschool science, rainy days, summer fun, and edible STEM learning.
More Ways to Use this Activity:
Use this activity for:
- kitchen science
- sensory bins
- birthday parties
- homeschool STEM
- candy science lessons
- rainy day activities
- summer boredom busters
Want Some More Super Fun Edible Experiments?
Edible Marshmallow Slime (with Sprinkles!)
Juicy Noodles
Cake Chemistry
Edible Earth’s Core
Rock Candy Geodes
And this post on 100 Edible Education Projects!!
Want a Couple More Edible Slime Ideas?
- Check out this Peeps Slime from Little Bins for Little Hands. She is basically the Slime Expert!
- Edible Valentine’s Slime from Kids Activities Blog looks fun, too!
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I tried this and the slime just got hard as it cooled. Never got less sticky. The more I kneaded and stretched it and added the corn starch/powdered sugar mixture, the harder it got. Are you supposed to add all the mixture? Or just some to make less sticky?
I just kneaded some in until it was less sticky. It does harden as it cools, yes, but you can pop it in the microwave for 10 seconds to soften it back up again.
cool
You can also just use powdered sugar
What size bag of starburst?
Just the regular small size is what I used for this one.
probrably dependes on how much you want to make
Can you melt the Starburst in the microwave instead of using a double boiler?
Yes! I have tried it that way since & it works the same.
How much does one small bag of Starburst make? I’m planning on doing this activity with 15 teens and I want to make sure we have enough for everyone.
It does not make a large amount. I would definitely have a few bags for that many kids.
instead of using starburst can it be skittles?
I have never tried it that way, but I am guessing skittles would react very different. They have a very different consistency from starburst. But it doesn’t hurt to try…
How many starburst do u use
I think you need better instructions there’s no way the candy to cornstarch ratio and sugar can be the same the starburst slime didn’t work because of it
I am also curious how many starburstnfor each batch of color? You say that you just use a small bag, but there are varying amounts of each color in the bag.
My kids loved this! We made this in microwave safe bowls…it took less than a minute for each color. Make sure and spray the bowls and spoon with Pam, it made it much easier to pour the melted starburst onto the cornstarch/powdered sugar mixture, and therefore less mess. It does harden as it cools, but as she says you can pop it back in the microwave to soften it out.
Yeah! Glad you liked it. Thanks for the great tips! 🙂
Does anyone know how long/well it stores for? Like if I make it now and put it in a Tupperware will it flatten and harden out right away?
It will keep for a long time, you will just have to re-warm it to when you are ready to play with it again.
It all started at the gas station after watching a video do someone making edible starburst slime. We got some starburst and some cornstarch off the pennies in our pocket in the hopes of getting away from the troubles in our lives and having some fun. Little did we know this would be the worst mistake of our lives. At about 10 we began the process on the stove but eventually switched to the microwave. After almost exploding the microwave we let it sit for 5 minutes and began the process. Not only was it sizzling the skin off of my fingers but it was also still solid. Yes we messed up the cornstarch and sugar amount but still let’s not acknowledge that. While the skin was sizzling off of my fingers my friends nose started to drip a eerie crimson liquid into the “slime”. blood. So as we you can guess we ended with a hardened rock of doom which contained our deceased hopes and dreams. The kitchen? long gone. The bowls we used? gone forever. As I sit retelling this trauma my friend sit next to me crying while bleeding knawing on what was supposed to be “Starburst Edible Slime” but ended as the worst night of our lives.
Sorry for your pain, but this is probably the best comment I have ever gotten. Thanks for a laugh. 🙂
This looks engaging!
I clearly did something wrong as I think I have ruined 4 bowls and spoons -how in the world do you get the bowls clean after this? HELP!
Oh no! Sorry you had trouble. Just a little soaking should get it out.
That’s exactly how we made our edible Starburst slime, but we only used Starburst and powdered sugar. We also didn’t have enough Starburst, so we had tiny batches for three of us…
Can you do this with skittles?
I’ve never tried, but they are a very different texture, so not sure it would work.