How to make flubber

Early Learning Early Learning General Discussions
1

Empty a 4 oz bottle of Elmer’s Glue-All into a bowl. Fill the empty glue bottle with warm water and shake. Then pour it in the bowl of glue. Add 10 drops of green (can be any color!) food coloring and with a plastic spoon stir well.

Step 2

In another bowl, Mix 1 teaspoon of 10 Mule Team Borax with 1 cup of warm water. Stir with a plastic spoon until the powder dissolves!

Step 3

Slowly pour the colored glue into the bowl with the borax solution, stirring with a plastic spoon the whole time.

Step 4

Remove the thick glob that forms, and knead the glob with you hands until it feels smooth and dry.
I wear rubber gloves, but that makes it harder to feel if it is dry.
Discard the water left in the bowl.

2

Are you brave enough to let your gkid play with it?

3

yes, Colin plays with it. It is not messy. Just don’t let them eat it. It is less messy then play-doh. It is a really cool texture for them to touch. It works well on their touch sense.

4

never played with it before, I think. What can you do with it?

5

This is SO MUCH FUN!!! We used to make it in the children’s program I led…but we called it “Elephant Snot”…(it just adds to the “eww” factor!)

In response to KL asking about what you do with it…the answer is basically nothing. You just feel it wiggle and jiggle and change shape in your fingers. It’s a neat thing when you’re talking about chemical/physical reactions. You really should try it. Your kids will love it (we only did it with the Kgtn-gr5 group though as it’s a definite “no eat” substance)

6

It is very cool to touch. You just play with it like play-doh. They did it with my grandson at his school because he has an aversion to touching weird things and being dirty. It helps develop the child senses. The flubber is kind of cold to touch. I would say they the child should be at least 18 months old so they don’t eat it.

7

We did this for green eggs and ham during Dr. Suess Week. The kids grade 4 and 5 loved it. But it was dangerous for kids to make, borax can be dangerous without the proper measures taken like wearing rubber gloves. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borax
Please read more about Borax (borac acid). It is found in various things if you check the link out.

Here are some more websites for the slime version http://www.sciencebob.com/experiments/polymer.php

Here is an alternative recipe to make slime instead of using borax so maybe you can add more ingredients to make playdough http://www.ehow.com/how_4898523_make-slime-borax-liquid-starch.html

I am not brave enough to make it or give it to my LO for they are too young.

8

http://www.ehow.com/video_4950870_make-flubber-slime.html

Here is a video on how to make flubber

http://www.ehow.com/how_4795061_silly-putty-liquid-starch.html

How to make silly putty

9

Colin did not make it. He simply touched it. It was perfectly safe. You just have to make sure they don’t eat it. They did this at a school for children with learning disabilities so I think once it is made and the chemical reaction has happened that flubber is safe. I would not suggest letting the little ones actually make it.

10

Oh yes, I didn’t mean to sound like he did. :blush: Sorry

11

Or you can just mix glue and liquid stratch together its quicker and also to get it out of anything like for example hair use vinegar it works like magic have fun i love it

12

Thanks for the tip!

13

I must try this! This is un-heard of in my country, to think we have lots of laboratory experiments during school years. Thanks for the idea!

14

i cant really catch how to make the flubber. never heard about this before. its really good idea. can anyone elaborate more on how to do it? sorry i cant catch the method. quite slow in this. :confused:
i heard some of my fren using flour to make it like a dough then just let her baby play with her hand. train up the small finger.
:smiley:

15

Flubber is a Disney movie in the USA where a green blob is accidentally created by an inventor (Robin Williams plays the inventor) . The reason this is called flubber is because it sorta like the blob in the movie. The reason green is the suggested color is because that is the color of flubber in the movie. If your child is old enough to watch the movie, you can tie making flubber with watching the movie.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2SgkxbuOW6w this is video on how to make it with slightly different recipe. Just be careful with the borax and do not let your kid eat it. Not for a really small baby.

Here is the trailer from the movie. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jgi2SadY9MU

16

thanks Patreiche, now i know how to do it lol . how long can flubber be use / keep?

17

Flubber is a polymer made by a chemical reaction. Polymers are very long chains of repeating units. When the two solutions are combined, polyvinyl acetate chains (a polymer from the white glue) are linked together in a 3-dimensional arrangement by borate ions (from the Borax) and other chemical bonds. This produces the thick, sticky polymer called Flubber. Keep this stuff away from carpet and hair as it will stick. If necessary, white vinegar can act as a solvent. This stuff is fun, but borax is toxic (as little as a spoonful can be lethal to a small child or pet) so please be careful using this with children!!! Use gloves when handling the borax and while mixing. Look up health warnings for borax acid. Store Flubber in an airtight container for about 3 weeks of use. Flubber is non-edible. When you are through with it, discard in a trash container. Do not wash down the drain. the school kept theirs in a ziplock bag.

Flubber is a polymer. The word polymer comes from the Greek language from poly “many” and meros “parts”. Polymers are large molecules consisting of repeating identical structural units connected by covalent chemical bonds. Polymers can be naturally occurring or manmade. Manmade polymers are materials like nylon, polyester, and polystyrene. Examples of naturally occurring polymers are proteins in our body like tubulin and actin. These proteins make up microtubules and microfilaments that serve as structural components within our cells.