The word is flubber, that's right. This simple science experiment is
fun for children to prepare and experiment with after processing. The
ingredients are easy and include water, white school glue, food
coloring and borax which can be found at the grocery store with the
laundry detergents. Kids will enjoy rolling up their sleeves and
getting hands on with this creative activity. Find out how to make flubber with this recipe and instructions.
Flubber Recipe and Instructions
Start out by taking 1/3 cup warm water and mixing 3 tablespoons of
borax until dissolved.
Squeeze in desired amount of food coloring to
the mixture and set this dish aside.
Then take a separate dish with 2
cups of warm water and add 2 cups of the white school glue to it.
Stir
thoroughly until dissolved.
Now take the two dishes and mix together
using your hands.
Do not use a spoon or other utensil, this is a hands
on experience.
Continue kneading the mixture around five minutes to
arrive at the desired consistency.
The flubber should now be ready to
play with!
Benefits of Making Flubber
For younger kids this entertains by allowing the
child(ren) to follow directions, act like a 'big person' by combining
and mixing ingredients, and gain physical stimulation by getting their
hands ooey gooey.
This isn't exactly cooking but it invites kids into
the kitchen in a friendly way. Day after day they watch you put this
and that into a bowl, stir it up and add a pinch of something more to
create a tasty meal. Their little imaginations go wild coming up with
concoctions they plan to make when you're not guarding that kitchen. I
know, just ask my daughter how thrilled I was to find her on the
counter with spaghetti noodles broken into a bowl covered with tea,
cinnamon and salt and pepper filled with water.
Kids want to make
things like they see us doing in the kitchen. This gives us a great way
to introduce mixing, stirring and kneading techniques.
Flubber Lessons for Kids
Get
inventive and find out what you can and can't do with flubber. Try to
pull it in half making two pieces. Can you bounce it? Does it stick to
the ceiling if you toss it up? Will a cookie cutter cut through it? How
far can you stretch it out? What happens when you drop marbles onto it?
Possibilities go on and on.
As for older kids you can explain
the scientific structure of this flubber. When you combine these
particular ingredients together it causes a chemical reaction. This
chemical reaction then creates a new compound with the properties of
both a solid and a liquid. The type of compound is classified as a
polymer, consisting of long chains of smaller repeating molecules.
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