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.

Others in this series:

1. Bernoulli's Principle
2. Ecotarium Trip 
3. Air Molecule Experiment
4. Kitchen Science
5. Corn Maze Field Trip 
6. Birds of Florida 
7. Making Static Music
8. Un-Make It Monday
9. Wind Tunnel Experiment
10. Biomes Field Trip
11. Disappearing Coin Trip
12. Snuffing out a Candle With Baking Soda
13. Making Plastic from Milk
14. Friction Experiment 
15. & 16. Snow Experiments
17. Making an Iceberg
18. Floating Eggs
19. Pond Water Under a Microscope 
20. Planting Eco Plant Pals
21. & 22. Cotton Candy Experiments
23. Springfield Science Museum Trip
24. Signs of Spring
25. Color Changing Slime
26. Growing Our Own Tickle Plants
27. Learning About Soil Sampling

29. Exploring the New England Shoreline

30.  Color Changing Flower Experiment 

31.  Roger Williams Zoo Trip

32.  Edible Silly Putty 

33.  Raising Tadpoles

34. More Microscope Fun

35. Making Homemade Ice Cream

36.  Observing Plants Breathe 

37.  Trip to Save the Bay Exploration Center and Aquarium

38. Making Fresh Peach Preserves 

39.  Making Solar S'mores

40.  Growing a Crystal Garden

41 & 42.  Jolly Rancher Candy Apples and Lollipops

43.  Volcanic Lemons 

44.  Oozing Pumpkins 

45.  Growing a Germ Farm

46.  Looking at the Germ Farm Under a Microscope

47 & 48.  Building Model Molecules Two Ways 

49.  Kitchen Chemistry Experiments 

50.  Fall Leaf Chromatography 

51.  Color Changing Experiments with Iodine

52.  Learning About Birds in Winter

53. Iodine and Starch Experiment
54. Flouride and Calcium Experiment
55. Botanical Gardens in Winter
56.  Making Cell Models
57. Which Has More Water; Ice or Snow?
58. Exploding Snow and Water Baggies
59.  Exploring Minerals
60. Visiting the Hartford Science Museum
61-63. 3 STEM Bridge Challenges
64. Making Models of the Earth
65. Plate Techtonics with Graham Crackers
66.  Homemade Lava Lamp
67.  Science Movies We're Watching
68. Index Card Towers
69.  Botany at the Botanical Gardens
70. Best Board Games for Science 
71. Homemade Frozen Yogurt Pops
72.  Starburst Rock Cycle 
73. & 74. Sinking a Marshmallow
75. Jumping Conversation Hearts 
76-78. Building a Paper Airplane 3 Ways 
79. Learning About Hummingbirds 
80.  Planting an Herb Garden 
81. Mushroom Spores 
82. - 84.  Penny Saturation Experiments 
85. Sink or Float?
86. Disappearing Ink 
87. Sedment Layer Jars
88. Tie Dye Science 
89-91. DNA Experiments 
92.  Homemade Butter 
93. Floating Marker Art 
94. & 95. Oil Spills & Water Filtration 
96.- 98. Making Rock Candy & Rock Candy Experiments 
99. Rocket Science 

100. Permaculture Garden Tour