This was so cool to try! We had a ‘ball’ ; )
Who knew that you could make your very own Bouncy Ball with household products! These also double as a Science experiment so you can’t go wrong! I have seen PLENTY of recipes for this on Pinterest but I found this one from ‘Kids Activity Blog’ to be the best!
So let’s get bouncing!
You will need:
2 tablespoons hot water
* 1/2 tsp Borax (I bought mine from the hardware store Bunnings – $8 for the whole container)
1 tbs Glue (I used Elmer’s school glue found at my local supermarket)
1 tablespoon Corn flour
Food colouring
You will also need:
Two plastic cups (labelled ‘1’ & ‘2’)
Teaspoons
Tablespoon
Plastic spoons (or something to stir the solutions)
Plastic bag (for storing your ball)
Step 1
Pour the water and borax into the first cup and stir and swirl the mixture until it is dissolved. We used very hot water from the tap.
Step 2
Pour the glue, cornstarch and food colouring into Cup 2 and mix.
Step 3
Add 1/2 a teaspoon of the Borax mixture from Cup 1 into Cup 2. Let the ingredients hang out with each other for about 20 seconds, then give it a good stir
Step 4
Once the mixture becomes quite stiff & tough to stir, scoop it out of the cup, and roll it around in your hands to form your very own Bouncy Ball!
So easy to make and so FUN to play with!
We got such a lot of play out of these! Master 5 loved to see how high he could get his to bounce! We rolled them on the floor, bouncing them off the walls too! I think the highest bounce we got was about 30cm!
When we were finished, we put our new best bouncy friend into a zip lock plastic bag and it kept for at least a week until it got played with a little too much and had to throw it out…then we just made more!
Just a short note, these are not exactly the same as your normal run of the mill bouncy balls i.e.: they do not bounce so high that they hit the roof! They do bounce that’s for sure! AND they are DIY so you can have the privilege of saying that you and your kiddies make them yourself!
*Please note that Borax is not edible so please make sure that anything including Borax stays away from little mouths and tummies!
We have some other FUN activities for you to try using Borax too!
How to Grow Your Own Crystals!
I have made these a number of times over the years with my Joey Scouts. It’s a great science experiment
I am looking forward to giving this a go! Thanks so much!
Is it one tablespoon Elmer glue? I used the friendly one. Does it matter. I also used cornstarch and now I read that you have cornflour. The problem is that it’s been an hour and still not hard. What did I do wrong?
Yes, we used 1tbs of Elmers Glue (the white one). I was always under the illusion that cornstarch and cornflour were the same ingredient, but apparently in the US (we are in Australia), cornstarch is quite a beige thick powder, where Cornflour is quite a white fluffy powder…perhaps this is why your bouncy balls have not gone hard yet? Jenni x
where do you find corn flour.
It will be in the baking aisle at your local grocery store. It might be called Corn Starch if you live in the USA. Louise x
Called cornflour in the United Kingdom and Commonwealth countries, except in Canada, where it is also known as corn starch. Not to be confused with cornmeal.
My cornstarch (Argo) is fluffy and white instead of beige and thick. USA.
You could be right. We did try using pva but you do have to use elmers glue even though they look the same they ar not. Our balls worked well but when left in the zip lock bag they ended up flat and unable to return to a round ball… Any ideas on how you kept yours round for a week?
is the school glue clear or white? we dont have elmers school glue in Aus so need to know type not brand. white is a wood glue here.
Hi there April, the Elmers glue I used was white, but I believe it also comes clear…this would make the bouncy balls translucent : ) Jenni x
Cool, thanks! Can you use cornstarch instead? I don’t want to buy a whole bag of corn flour when it calls for so little. :o)
We are under the assumption that Cornflour and Cornstarch are the same thing…or very similar. It should work just fine. Let us know if you have a problem using cornstarch. Louise x
HI Just wondering where in Australia you buy Elmers Glue… haven’t heard or seen it before? Thanks!
Hi Marian, I buy it from Woolworths in the aisle with all of the crafts (pom poms, googley eyes etc). Jenni x
Hi i was wondering where you got your Elmers’s glue from because i couldn’t find it online at Woolworths
Work at a preschool and I am always looking for recipes for items I can use in the classroom. Thank you for sharing.
good stuff
These are great ideas – could you tell me what the Borax is as I am in the UK and can’t find anything by this name?
Hi Gareth, we’ve had this question before & from what I can tell from our followers, Borax is not readily available in the UK
Here in the US, you get Borax In the laundry care isle of the grocery store.
Borax can actually be bought at any grocery store. Where I purchase mine it comes in a 15oz box for 5 bucks.
You can get Borax from Amazon website xx
Super store grocery
Hi, I’m in the UK and me and my kids have just attempted these, as we cant buy real borax here i have bought something called borax substitute however our mixture is still runny so im assuming its not the same at all!! I know some recipes for the slime can use liquid starch in replacement of borax, do you know if you can do that with your recipe for bouncy balls and if so what quantities. Thanks.
Hi Nina, I wish I had an answer for you as I have only ever made this recipe with Borax…if you try it with the substitute & it works, we’d love to hear how you go so we can let the rest of our UK followers know. Thanks again Nina! Jenni x
Hey Nina,Pinky, and everyone, can you give me the borax subsitute recipe, I live in Dominica(not the republic)where we don’t really have this stuff, if we do it is really expensive.If I could have those borax-less recipe , that would be great thanks.
We tried this with cornstarch and it was a gooey mess!! Will look for corn FLOUR next time:)
hi..! Can anything else be used except of Borax..??
I am in the US and have both corn starch (white, fine powder) and corn flour (beige and thicker, similar to bread flour) which is also called ‘masa’. Which do I use?
Hi Sarah, It would be the Corn Starch :). Louise x
Love all these cool projects. Have great grand kids and this sounds like fun. Thanks
I love making these experiments with my grandson. I have 7 grandsons but only one seems to be interested in this kind of things. He of tens looks for things like this and when he finds them he gets so excited.
Love this it was a sticky mess at first but it looks like yours now just smaller 🙂
Can you use white PVA glue instead of Elmers glue?