100 Days of Science #28-- Making Super Bouncy Balls

I was so excited to finally have the chance to try making bouncy balls with the boys.  It was a fun (though messy!) science experiment and we learned a lot. 


We read a few different blogs on making bouncy balls and finally began assembling our materials.  

We used:
1/2 cup warm water
1 Tablespoon Borax
A few squirts of tempera or watercolor paint
1-2 Tablespoons of school glue

I'd also recommend latex gloves-- we had some blue hands for a bit!


In our bowl we mixed the warm water, borax, and paint until most of the borax had dissolved.


Then we  measured our glue and poured it into our paint mixture.


The glue immediately begins clumping up and after a few stirs we scooped up the glue and began pressing it into a ball.  Occasionally some glue would squeeze out in a few places and if it the ball became sticky we'd roll it back in the water/ borax solution.


These did bounce pretty high.  Alec accidentally bounced it right back into the bowl of painted water and I had to go change and wash my WHITE shirt while he cleaned up the table and floor.  After that I advised them to bounce them on the floor and these balls usually bounced back up to their waists.


Here you can see the glue clumping together.


We tried a second batch using tempera paint and while we might not have used enough glue we had a very hard time forming a ball with our second batch and couldn't help wondering if the paint was just too thick.



Basically the balls are a very firm slime mixture and we had read many warnings on most "how to's" that the balls will loose their shape if you leave them sitting.  You can reshape them until they dry out so it's recommended that they be stored in individual Ziploc bags.

I can't really say though since my boys played with them for quite some time and then just decided to throw them away.






Comments

  1. Sheltie TimesJune 7, 2018 at 2:25 PM

    Sounds like it was a fun experiment.

    ReplyDelete
  2. This Mummy RocksJune 9, 2018 at 7:24 PM

    I think i will have to show my boys this! Something for us to try out! Thanks for sharing #FabFridayPost

    ReplyDelete
  3. Sarah StockleyJune 14, 2018 at 4:46 AM

    These look fantastic and good fun to make. My kids would love to have a go - makes a change from slime! #FabFridayPost

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Mother of 3June 16, 2018 at 4:56 PM

      It was a nice change from slime and they did bounce pretty high.

      Delete
  4. Ethan.n.EvelynJune 20, 2018 at 4:44 PM

    Oh! This looks fun! I really wish we can get Borax in England. x

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Mother of 3June 21, 2018 at 7:18 AM

      Bummer... can you get liquid starch or I've heard contact solution works too but you'd have to play around with the amounts.

      Delete

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