Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Summer Kid Crafts: Make Your Own Bouncy Balls

Make Bouncy BallsThis is a great and gooey craft that small kids and big kids alike will love--and all using things you most likely have on hand in the house.

It works best if you set up your work area with the ingredients separated into two little disposable bowls with plastic spoons, ready to go, so that you can throw the things away once you've done mixing. I love a quick clean up.

Though if you use your dinner bowls and fancy silverware it shouldn't cause any problems. Conservation is nearly as good as a quick clean up.

You'll need:
2 paper/plastic bowls (optional)
plastic spoon (optional)
1/2 teaspoon Borax
2 tablespoons warm water
1 tablespoon cornstarch
food coloring (optional)
1 tablespoon liquid glue such as Elmer's

Step 1:
In one of your bowls mix the 1/2 teaspoon Borax, 2 tablespoons warm water, 1 tablespoon cornstarch and a few drops of food coloring if desired. In the other bowl put the 1 tablespoon glue.

Make Bouncy Balls
Step 2:
Add the Borax mixture to the glue in the other bowl. Set the timer for 15 seconds. Let it set for the full 15 seconds before mixing things together.

Make Bouncy Balls
Step 3:
Stir the mixture around until all the ingredients are combined and then start rolling the mixture in your hands until it forms a ball. It takes a while for it to dry completely but we found it works better if you blow on it a bit to speed things along. We tried doubling the recipe for extra bouncing pleasure but it wasn't a good idea--it took longer to dry and form a ball with double the mass.

Make Bouncy BallsOnce you've got a ball it will bounce on flat surfaces and holds together well though it isn't as firm as a regular hard plastic-style ball and will gradually flatten out on a counter if left out before it's dry. Don't leave it on carpet or on fabric until you're sure it's dry--I'd hate to have color get somewhere it shouldn't.

But we had hours of fun with it yesterday. Happy bouncing to you all.

***

Congratulations to Kelly of Rochester, Michigan; Justine of Tumwater, Washington; Anne of Fort Smith, Arkansas; Olivia of Anchorage, Alaska; Anne of Atlanta, Georgia; Katie of Troy, Michigan; Monica of Haines, Alaska; Sharon of Chico, California; Jennifer of Lakeland, Florida; and Kristi of Friendsville, Tennessee. Each of the ten have won a pair of Dockers' new Cargo Khakis in last weekend's giveaway. Happy Father's Day!

Sponsored by findourschool.com--Find the perfect school in your area.

10 comments:

Jennifer@ Family Musings said...

This is so cool! We will definitely be making these at least once this summer!

Unknown said...

This is great!!!!

I can't find my blog said...

Totally did this today. Took me 3 stops to find Borax (are you kidding me?) but the kids loved it. Tomorrow is making crayons. I may kill them before the week is out. Send wine or chocolate.

Rachel@oneprettything.com said...

Wow, this is so cool! I love this idea and I love that Headless Mom has already done it! Thanks so much, I'll be linking.

The Petersen Family said...

Have to laugh at this post. It reminds me of when I was in Elementary school and we would smear rubber cement on our chairs, let it dry a little and role it up into a ball and would keep doing it to make it bigger. They would bounce everywhere.

Lori said...

I wonder if our glue was no good...it has a wee bit of mold on the inside. Our balls didn't work really work, but we will try tweaking the recipe perhaps. And the kids love that I now have Shrek hands from the food coloring.

Jess said...

Hi, we can't get Elmers glue here....is it like PVA (white glue)?

Scribbit said...

I would assume Elmers is like PVA, just a white glue you can buy in the crayons section of the grocery store.

Anonymous said...

Science and FUN all in one - What a great project! I have featured it on my blog under today's post titled Tuesday Tumblr:

http://www.camilledawn.com/2010/06/tuesday-tumblr-2.html

This is definitely something I plan to do soon with my preschooler, and I hope by sharing the link others will be inspired to try too!

Camille
mother★lode
www.camilledawn.com

Stacy K said...

We just made these today and the kids LOVED them! Thank you so much for the recipe!