Try your hand at making candy cane shaving cream slime for Christmas. Read below for all of the details.
I know some adults shy away from making slime with kids, but I love it. There’s just something about the scientific process of taking a set of ingredients and making something new. Then there’s the sensory aspect to slime – it is just a blast to play with and manipulate.
Recently, my son and I went away for the long Thanksgiving weekend with some close family friends. I was put in charge of indoor activities for the kids, and a few of them asked that I bring “lots of slime making supplies!”
As I said then, “Challenge accepted!”
Related: How to Make Slime with Kids
Slime Safety
Before we jump into the fun, fluffy candy cane slime we should talk safety. Slime is basically a science activity and should really be treated like a science experiment . . . with proper caution.
None of the ingredients, or the end result, should ever be ingested. If you have children who are still putting things in their mouths, do not let them play with slime.
Be aware of your own skin sensitivities, as well as those of the kids who will play with this slime. We’ve been making slime for years and have never had a problem. However, we always go into a new slime experience planning to keep an eye out for any skin reactions.
Make sure to wash your hands after making or playing with slime. Definitely make sure that the kids do too.
Related: 35+ Types of Slime Recipes in the Ultimate Collection from A to Z
How to Make Candy Cane Shaving Cream Slime
While we were chatting about different types of slime to make during our little vacation, a fluffy candy cane slime was suggested.
We didn’t have the ingredients to make our usual liquid starch slime, as seen in our easy gold slime recipe. So we decided to make slime with contact lens solution this time around. Here’s what we did:
Fluffy Slime Ingredients
Below is what you need for one batch of the shaving cream slime. I suggest making the white fluffy slime first. Then come back and make a batch of red fluffy slime.
1/2 cup Elmer’s white school glue
1/4 – 1/2 cup water
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3 cups shaving cream (we used the basic kind, but I suggest grabbing some unscented)
Red liquid watercolors, as desired
3 to 4 tablespoons contact lens solution (must contain boric acid or sodium borate)
Peppermint essential oil or peppermint extract (optional)
Candy Cane Shaving Cream Slime Directions
To make the candy cane slime, you’ll make two separate batches of slime – one red and one white. They both follow the same basic directions. The only real difference is adding liquid watercolors or food coloring to the red batch.
Part 1, the Basics
Start off by pouring your glue into a bowl. We have a few different bowls we use just for making slime. If you make a lot of slime at home (or at school), I’d suggest having a dedicated set of bowls.
Next up, measure out your warm water. If you’re using a bottle of glue, just add the water to the emptied glue bottle. Pour the water in with the glue and mix well.
Add the baking soda next, and then mix everything together.
Related: Regular Candy Cane Slime Recipe
Part 2, Make it Fluffy
Then it’s time for what makes this slime so fluffy . . . shaving cream! Measure the shaving cream out and pour it into the glue-water mixture. We ended up using 3 cups of shaving cream, but you can adjust the amount up or down depending on your preference.
Related: Marbled Homemade Christmas Card with Kids
Part 3, Add Some Extras
After that, it’s time to add the liquid watercolors (for the white batch of shaving cream slime, you’ll skip this part). You could use food coloring instead, of course, but we love using liquid watercolors. Mix everything very well.
Related: My Christmas Five Senses Book
The kids really, really (really!) wanted to add glitter at this point. I pointed out that the glitter would be super hard to see because of the shaving cream. We still added some, even though my point still stands.
If you want to add peppermint essential oil or peppermint extract, do so at this point in the process.
Part 4, Get Slimy
Then comes the contact lens solution, and I have to admit we ended up using more than I originally planned for. I need to do a little bit more experimenting to see if the brand of contact solution affects how much you end up using. I’ll be sure to pop by and share that information once I know!
Related: Christmas Christmas Lights Photo Frame
Mix everything very well, until everything starts pulling away from the side of the bowl.
Finally, it’s time to knead. This is a very important step in the shaving cream slime making process. Take a few minutes to knead the mixture just like you would knead bread dough.
Tip: Squirt some of the contact lens solution on your hands before you start kneading!
If your slime is too sticky at this point, add a little more contact lens solution and knead some more.
Generally, I like making slime that isn’t sticky. This one has a little bit of stickiness to it, but the slime is easily removed by rolling it off the hands. After making the slime, I saw a suggestion for using a different activator when making fluffy slime. We’ll have to try it that way next time.
I may not have kneaded it enough, either, because everyone was just so excited to get to playing with the slime!
Related: Christmas-Themed Preschool Lesson Plans
Exploring the Candy Cane Shaving Cream Slime
Once you have a batch of white fluffy slime and a batch of red shaving cream slime, bring on the “candy cane”. We decided to make one big candy cane with all of the slimes.
Related: Beaded Name Candy Cane Craft
It didn’t turn out perfect, but we weren’t really aiming for perfection anyway! It was just something fun and silly to do at the time.
After we’d attempted a giant fluffy slime candy cane, it was time to play. We went into this knowing that the slimes were eventually going to mix, leaving us with a large batch of pink fluffy slime. I have to admit, this didn’t hold the kids back at all!
Related: Sparkly Christmas Engineering Activity
There was pulling and stretching and poking of the candy cane slime. There were a few more (smaller) slime candy canes attempted. Those attempts kept ending with eruptions of giggles!
Once the candy cane slime had melded into one large bit of pink fluffiness, the kids started calling it cotton candy slime. That was a really good description, actually. It did, indeed, look like cotton candy in a bin!
Are you ready to try your hand at making candy cane shaving cream slime? Be sure to let me know what you and the kids think about it.
Storing the Shaving Cream Slime
Place the candy cane slime in an airtight container or baggie. It should keep for a week or so that way.
Please note that the fluffiness recedes after about a day or two.
Christmas Resources for Preschool Teachers
Save time planning (and, really, you can use all the time you have around the holidays!) with already done-for-you resources from Preschool Teacher 101. There are lesson plans, math and STEM activities, and literacy resources just for you! Be sure to check out the membership options for even more savings. You can also find us on Teachers Pay Teachers.
Click on the photos below for more information about Christmas resources:
The post Make Candy Cane Shaving Cream Slime This Christmas appeared first on Fun-A-Day!.