Bouncy Elastic Fun Putty Recipe
Using common and inexpensive ingredients, you can easily mix up your own playtime fun that you can stretch, squish in your hands, mold into shapes, pull apart and put back together, and throw and play catch with over short distances.
Ingredients
□ 2 plastic containers with water-tight and air-tight lids (sold in the kitchen items isle as Glad Loc Ware, Rubbermaid Twist & Seal, Ziploc Twist 'n Loc, and by other brand names).
□ 3/8 cup of cold water.
□ 4 ounce bottle or 1/2 cup of PVA glue (white glue sold as ‘Elmer’s School Glue,’ ‘Elmer’s Glue-All,’ and by other brand names).
□ 2 or 3 drops of liquid food coloring or other coloring substance (optional).
□ 1/4 cup of warm water.
□ 1 teaspoon of borax (sold in a box in the laundry products isle as ‘20 Mule Team’ and by other brand names).
Instructions
1. Put the glue and cold water (and food coloring if desired) together in one container, place the lid tightly on the container, and shake the container vigorously for about 1 minute to completely dissolve the glue in the water; now set this mixture aside.
2. Put the warm water and borax in the other container, place the lid tightly on the container, and shake the container vigorously for about 1 minute to completely dissolve the borax in the water.
3. Pour the borax-water solution into the glue-water solution, place the lid tightly on the container, and shake the container vigorously for about 1 minute (occasionally you may encounter a temperamental batch that may need up to 5 minutes of vigorous shaking to absorb all of the liquid and fully congeal into a single lump).
What just happened? The glue is a type of polymer called Poly-Vinyl-Acetate (PVA for short), while the borax is a chemical called sodium borate. When mixed together, the borax reacts with the glue, and the resulting substance absorbs the water to form large, smooth, stretchable, slightly bouncy molecules.
Store bouncy elastic fun putty in an airtight container, such as a resealable plastic bag or a plastic container with a lid, to prevent it from drying out. If it is divided into 2 equally sized chunks, each chunk will fit inside a resealable snack-size bag. If stored for a long period of time, the putty may become inconsistent; just rework it with your hands to get it back into shape.
Please note that the ingredient borax should not be confused with boric acid, which is a completely different substance. Borax is safe to handle, being nontoxic in contact with the skin or if ingested in the quantity used in the recipe. Boric acid, however, is a potentially harmful substance which should never be in contact with skin or ingested. Read package directions before opening to ensure you have the correct ingredient.
Although safe and nontoxic, bouncy elastic fun putty is not intended to be eaten or ingested by humans or animals, as it contains no beneficial nutrients and is not a food product. The play material is for children six years of age and up and for adults, with appropriate adult supervision recommended for persons of any age whose mental state might require adult supervision in play and recreational activities.
________________________________________________________
Coloring Your Fun
Food coloring is one option for making your toy visually captivating, but if you want vibrant colors that really stand out, called ‘day-glow’ colors, use the ink from highlighter markers. First, get a plastic container with a watertight and airtight lid, one container for each color of marker (highlighters come in yellow, green, yellow-green, pink, orange, blue, and sometimes other colors). Add 1 and 1/2 cups of water to the container. Using a pair of needle-nose pliers, take apart the highlight marker, first pulling out the felt tip and placing it in the container of water, then removing the piece of plastic from the base end or bottom of the marker, and finally pulling out the inside material from the marker. Lay this material on a piece of kitchen plastic wrap and make a cut with a pair of scissors along the length of the plastic casing; it will not be necessary to remove the casing, only to cut through it to allow the ink to disperse into the water in the container. Now place it in the container with the water. Put the lid tightly on the container, and shake the container vigorously for about 30 seconds. The colored water is now ready to be measured and used as the cold water to mix with the PVA glue in the recipe.
Another coloring option is a beverage or drink mix (sold as Kool Aid and by other brand names). If you add no coloring substances to the recipe, you can make white bouncy elastic fun putty.
________________________________________________________
Build Your Own Bouncy Elastic Fun Putty Factory
B.E.F.P. is great for birthday parties, science classes, and all kinds of fun get-togethers for children, childlike grownups, and adults who might have forgotten how to play and need to be reminded.
If you want to make great gobs of gooey stuff over and over again, your life will be greatly simplified if you build a ‘factory.’ Here’s how: Get a plastic storage box with a lid, to hold everything: containers with lids, measuring cups and measuring spoons, PVA glue, borax, and coloring substances if desired, all of which go into the making of your fun. You might also want to include sheets of plastic or plastic table-cloths, paper towels, resealable plastic bags, kitchen plastic wrap, plastic trash bags, and any other items to help with manufacturing and clean-up.
And sure, you could make bouncy elastic fun putty and present it as a finished product to people, but you could also allow them to mix up the ingredients themselves, even allowing them to choose what color to make their toy.
________________________________________________________
Please send an email message to MakeFunOfLife@mail.com and let us know what you like to do for fun with your B.E.F.P. As ever, we are M.F.O.L.! . . . Specializing in smiles.
Using common and inexpensive ingredients, you can easily mix up your own playtime fun that you can stretch, squish in your hands, mold into shapes, pull apart and put back together, and throw and play catch with over short distances.
Ingredients
□ 2 plastic containers with water-tight and air-tight lids (sold in the kitchen items isle as Glad Loc Ware, Rubbermaid Twist & Seal, Ziploc Twist 'n Loc, and by other brand names).
□ 3/8 cup of cold water.
□ 4 ounce bottle or 1/2 cup of PVA glue (white glue sold as ‘Elmer’s School Glue,’ ‘Elmer’s Glue-All,’ and by other brand names).
□ 2 or 3 drops of liquid food coloring or other coloring substance (optional).
□ 1/4 cup of warm water.
□ 1 teaspoon of borax (sold in a box in the laundry products isle as ‘20 Mule Team’ and by other brand names).
Instructions
1. Put the glue and cold water (and food coloring if desired) together in one container, place the lid tightly on the container, and shake the container vigorously for about 1 minute to completely dissolve the glue in the water; now set this mixture aside.
2. Put the warm water and borax in the other container, place the lid tightly on the container, and shake the container vigorously for about 1 minute to completely dissolve the borax in the water.
3. Pour the borax-water solution into the glue-water solution, place the lid tightly on the container, and shake the container vigorously for about 1 minute (occasionally you may encounter a temperamental batch that may need up to 5 minutes of vigorous shaking to absorb all of the liquid and fully congeal into a single lump).
What just happened? The glue is a type of polymer called Poly-Vinyl-Acetate (PVA for short), while the borax is a chemical called sodium borate. When mixed together, the borax reacts with the glue, and the resulting substance absorbs the water to form large, smooth, stretchable, slightly bouncy molecules.
Store bouncy elastic fun putty in an airtight container, such as a resealable plastic bag or a plastic container with a lid, to prevent it from drying out. If it is divided into 2 equally sized chunks, each chunk will fit inside a resealable snack-size bag. If stored for a long period of time, the putty may become inconsistent; just rework it with your hands to get it back into shape.
Please note that the ingredient borax should not be confused with boric acid, which is a completely different substance. Borax is safe to handle, being nontoxic in contact with the skin or if ingested in the quantity used in the recipe. Boric acid, however, is a potentially harmful substance which should never be in contact with skin or ingested. Read package directions before opening to ensure you have the correct ingredient.
Although safe and nontoxic, bouncy elastic fun putty is not intended to be eaten or ingested by humans or animals, as it contains no beneficial nutrients and is not a food product. The play material is for children six years of age and up and for adults, with appropriate adult supervision recommended for persons of any age whose mental state might require adult supervision in play and recreational activities.
________________________________________________________
Coloring Your Fun
Food coloring is one option for making your toy visually captivating, but if you want vibrant colors that really stand out, called ‘day-glow’ colors, use the ink from highlighter markers. First, get a plastic container with a watertight and airtight lid, one container for each color of marker (highlighters come in yellow, green, yellow-green, pink, orange, blue, and sometimes other colors). Add 1 and 1/2 cups of water to the container. Using a pair of needle-nose pliers, take apart the highlight marker, first pulling out the felt tip and placing it in the container of water, then removing the piece of plastic from the base end or bottom of the marker, and finally pulling out the inside material from the marker. Lay this material on a piece of kitchen plastic wrap and make a cut with a pair of scissors along the length of the plastic casing; it will not be necessary to remove the casing, only to cut through it to allow the ink to disperse into the water in the container. Now place it in the container with the water. Put the lid tightly on the container, and shake the container vigorously for about 30 seconds. The colored water is now ready to be measured and used as the cold water to mix with the PVA glue in the recipe.
Another coloring option is a beverage or drink mix (sold as Kool Aid and by other brand names). If you add no coloring substances to the recipe, you can make white bouncy elastic fun putty.
________________________________________________________
Build Your Own Bouncy Elastic Fun Putty Factory
B.E.F.P. is great for birthday parties, science classes, and all kinds of fun get-togethers for children, childlike grownups, and adults who might have forgotten how to play and need to be reminded.
If you want to make great gobs of gooey stuff over and over again, your life will be greatly simplified if you build a ‘factory.’ Here’s how: Get a plastic storage box with a lid, to hold everything: containers with lids, measuring cups and measuring spoons, PVA glue, borax, and coloring substances if desired, all of which go into the making of your fun. You might also want to include sheets of plastic or plastic table-cloths, paper towels, resealable plastic bags, kitchen plastic wrap, plastic trash bags, and any other items to help with manufacturing and clean-up.
And sure, you could make bouncy elastic fun putty and present it as a finished product to people, but you could also allow them to mix up the ingredients themselves, even allowing them to choose what color to make their toy.
________________________________________________________
Please send an email message to MakeFunOfLife@mail.com and let us know what you like to do for fun with your B.E.F.P. As ever, we are M.F.O.L.! . . . Specializing in smiles.
