How to Remove Slime from Bed Sheets

Co-authored by Eric McClure

Last Updated: December 18, 2020 References Tested

If your kids were playing with slime where they weren’t supposed to, you may be horrified to discover chunks of pesky slime covering your bed. The good news is that it’s actually quite easy to remove slime from bed sheets, although it can take a bit of patience and time. This is also a great time to set some ground rules on where your children are allowed to play with slime. You can even enlist them to help you clean their mess, regardless of whether they were at fault or not.

Part 1

Part 1 of 2:

Slime Removal

1
Peel off as much slime as you can by hand. Take your bed sheet off of the bed if you haven’t already. Go through and peel off as many chunks of slime as possible. Get as much of the slime off of the bed sheet as you can and don’t worry if there are a few bits that won’t come out.^{[1]
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- If the slime is still wet, use a cloth or paper towel to wipe up as much of the slime as possible. You should be able to lift all of it up, but you’ll be left with an oily residue on the fabric.
- Having your kids help you with this part may really drive it home that they shouldn’t be playing with slime in bed. If this wasn’t originally a clear-set rule, you may want to cut them a break, though.
2
Use an ice cube to freeze off any hardened slime you can’t peel off. For any stubborn chunks of dry slime, grab an ice cube and let it sit on top of the fabric. Give it a few minutes to freeze the slime and make it brittle. You can press and rub the ice cubes into the sheet to speed this process up if you’d like.^{[2]
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- If you have a ton of space and a big freezer bag, you can just toss the sheet into the freezer to freeze the slime.^{[3]
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3
Scrape off the remaining chunks by hand or with a spoon. Once the remaining slime feels hard and frozen, start picking it off the bed sheet. You can use the curved edge of a spoon to scrape off any thinner layers of slime if you’d like. Repeat this process any number of times until you’ve got almost all of the chunks off of your sheets.^{[4]
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- Don’t worry about getting every single bit off. It’s okay if there are still some specks or flakes of dried slime sticking to the fabric. The goal here is just to get as much of it off as possible.

Part 2

Part 2 of 2:

Stain Removal

1
Spray white vinegar and water over the slime and let it soak in. Take the sheet to your sink or tub. Mix 2-parts distilled white vinegar with 1-part water in a spray bottle and spray the affected fabric thoroughly. Let the sheets sit for a few minutes to give the vinegar time to soak in all the way.^{[5]
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- Don’t worry about damaging or discoloring your sheets. White vinegar isn’t strong enough to do any harm here.^{[6]
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- You can use liquid laundry detergent instead of white vinegar if you prefer. Just pour some laundry detergent over any chunks of slime and oily stains.^{[7]
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- It’s probably not a good idea to have your children do this part, but having them sit and watch you work could be a fair punishment if they knowingly violated a playtime rule.
2
Hold the sheet under warm water and massage the fabric. You can either set the sheet under a steady stream of warm water in your tub or sink, or fill a small dish or bucket with warm water and submerge the dirty portion of your sheets. Use your fingers to rub the stains and chunks back and forth. The small bits of dry slime should slide right off the fabric. The stains will dissipate as you work the vinegar and water into the fabric by hand.^{[8]
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- You can use a soft brush or cloth to wipe the slime away if you don’t want to use your fingers.^{[9]
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- In most cases, you should be able to get all of the slime out after a minute or two by rubbing the bed sheets like this. If the sheets look good by this point, rinse out the vinegar and wash your sheets the same way you normally would.
3
Squirt dish soap over the slime and rub the stains out. If some of the stains just won’t come out, take the sheets out of the water, but keep the wet sheets in the tub or sink. Grab some dish soap and squirt it over the stains. Let the soap soak into the fabric for a minute or two. Then, rub the stains out with your fingers until your sheets look clean and slime-free.^{[10]
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- Any kind of dish soap will work for this. You aren’t going to damage or stain the fabric.^{[11]
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- Rinse the dish soap out with warm water after you’ve removed the slime.
- At this point, if there are still some stains, try soaking the sheets in warm water for 30 minutes. Then, repeat the entire process. Sometimes, it just takes a bit of patience to get stubborn slime off.^{[12]
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4
Wash your bed sheets in the machine to remove that smell. Your kids may not notice it, but you probably know by now that slime tends to leave an unpleasant odor behind. Once you’ve got the stains and slime off, toss your bed sheets in the washer and launder them the same way you normally would. This should remove any trace that there was any slime on them in the first place!^{[13]
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- You can either air dry your sheets or throw them in the dryer once you’ve washed them.