Rubber Balls

Remember when I admitted to being a Pinterest addict?  http://twocrazynavywives.blogspot.com/2013/08/the-one-with-pinterest-addiction.html  We asked for Pinterest crafts that you wanted to try, but wanted to see if they worked first.  We were given this bouncy ball link to try.  http://www.pbs.org/parents/crafts-for-kids/super-bouncy-balls/

The good thing about this craft, is we had all the supplies lying around the house.  So off to make balls we went!

We had visions of those Super bouncy balls the kids get out of the quarter machines.  That is soooo not what we got.

First of all let me say, I am never allowed to do this craft again.  Never.  I somehow managed to ruin every batch I tried.  Secondly, the recipes on Pinterest only make one ball at a time.  So if you wanted to make one ball for say... eight kids (our combined number of kids), you need to do the recipe eight times.

Here are the ingredients needed.

 Cornstarch, school glue, borax, water, and food coloring (optional).  See those cute little plastic balls?  I got those at Walmart with cute little superheroes in them. I thought I was going to need to put the ingredients into those to form the bouncy balls, and wait for them to dry.  Boy was I wrong.

First you put 1tbsp glue into a dish.

 Next you mix 1tbsp cornstarch, 1/4 tsp borax, and 4 tbsp water in a separate dish.  This is where we added the food coloring the first time.  Then mix them together.

As you are mixing them together, a mushy ball type thing starts forming.

 You take this out, roll it, and form it in your hands.  Yes, it feels slimy and gross.  Kids love that kind of thing.  This is what the final product looks like. (If you're Melanie, and do it right.  Not if you're me, and somehow manage to mess it up every time).

It is fairly bouncy, but it stays mushy, and doesn't hold a shape for long.  I had visions of this mashed into my carpet. I figured at least I could do another blog post titled, The One Where I Get Bouncy Balls Out of My Carpet.

If you are like me, you will somehow ruin every recipe you try, and will end up with lots of different results.  Such as:

Flubber!  The kids loved this, and Mikey ended up getting it all over Melanie's keyboard.  Sorry Melanie.

I added food coloring to the glue, thinking it would make balls more colorful.

Somehow ending up with the aforementioned flubber, and...

Whatever you would call these little clumpy, slimy things.

I attempted to salvage these by squeezing extra moisture out of them with a paper towel.  It kind of saved them, but they still are a mess.  So these are our completed bouncy balls.

Notice the two fairly decent ones are Melanie's. The other two are a couple of my lovely attempts

I did not enjoy this project (except for laughing at my failures).  I would not recommend doing it.  Save yourself the hassle, and run to the nearest Dollar Tree, and get a package of real ones for a dollar.  If you enjoy making flubber (these balls are slightly firmer versions), then this project is for you!  Or if you're like me, you could end up with flubber itself.  If not, I hope we saved you the trouble.