Homemade Silly Putty Recipe

Having a science themed meeting with your Scouts? Instead of a craft, make up a batch of silly putty. This stuff is stretchy and the Scouts will enjoy playing with it. Have some small containers ready so they can take it home.

I encourage you to do a test run on your own first, so you get the hang of it and can judge the messiness and have an appropriate work space.

Homemade Silly Putty

Equipment

• 2 bowls
• 2 spoons for stirring

Ingredients:

• 1 tsp. borax
• 1 cup white or transparent school glue
• 1 1/4 cups water
• optional: food coloring

Instructions

1. Put 3/4 cup water in one bowl.
2. Add the food coloring and borax.
3. Stir until the borax is dissolved.
4. Put 1/2 cup of the water and the glue in the second bowl.
5. Stir the glue and water until combined.
6. Slowly add the glue mixture into the borax mixture, stirring while you do so.
7. The mixture will form a ball. Continue to mix it with your hands. (They will enjoy this part!)
8. Observe the qualities of the silly putty.

Explanation

You’ve made a polymer. Polymers are long chains of molecules. The chains move around each other easily. This, along with the types of links in the chain, explains how it is a solid, but can slowly flow, like a liquid. Plastics are polymers.