Homeschooling Science: Bouncy Ball Fun!

In science we've been learning about Chemical Reactions and rubber and naturally we decided to make bouncy balls!  How fun, right? 

I thought I would show you how we made a bouncy ball.  The ingredients are for making ONE bouncy ball so if you want to make TWO bouncy balls then you need to double the ingredients...I'm so smart, right?

Okay so here's what you need: 

List of Supplies: 

Safety Goggles

1/2 tsp. Borax

1 tbsp. Cornstarch 

1 tbsp. White or clear school glue

2 tbsp. warm water

few drops food coloring

2 small plastic cups

a spoon

a timer

zippered plastic bag

Have your supplies together?  Okay, here we go...

First things first we're going to mix the water, food coloring, and borax together in one of the cups.  

Stir, stir, stir until it is all dissolved. 

Okay, next up you're going to take your other cup and pour in the glue and 1/2 tsp. of the borax solution from the first cup. 

Now add 1 tbsp. of cornstarch to the borax/glue fun in your cup but DO NOT STIR YET!!!

Allow it to sit for 15 seconds EXACTLY...<cue the Jeopardy song>...

Then you're going to mix the solution with your spoon until it becomes impossible to stir.  

And then we mix it, mix it...

Can't stir no more? 

Take it out of the cup and form it into a ball with your hands.  As expected this is kind of a stick mess so if you have a sensory sensitive child like I do, you may have to do it for them.  

So there you have it...how to make a bouncy ball so your kids can have tons of fun with their very own creation!  

I got this recipe from the kids Science book: Exploring Creation with Chemistry and Physics by Apologia.  You can get your copy here.  

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