This past weekend was my son’s birthday. He turned six! We broke our own rules of 1) having birthday parties at home and 2) inviting no more than 10 guests. This year he wanted to invite all of the kids in Kindergarten (oy!), no one was to be left out. With so many invitees, we had to come up with a new plan. We decided to rent out the local movie theatre, and make a homemade party favor that wouldn’t cost too much. After some investigation, and many lengthy discussions, we decided to make flubber!
I researched and tried several variations on the recipe. We made 10 batches, each batch filling 4 containers (I bought 12 oz deli containers
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Here is the simple recipe we used:
Flubber Supplies
Mixture 1:
~ 1 1/2 cups very warm water
~ 2 cups Elmer’s glue
Combine in a small to medium bowl and stir with a clean spoon.
Mixture 2:
~ 3 teaspoons Borax
~ 1 cup very warm water
How To Make Flubber
Combine in a large bowl, stir until dissolved (or almost dissolved) with a clean spoon.
Pour mixture 1 into mixture 2. Because of the science behind this recipe, the borax combines with the PVA in the glue and makes a polymer. You could do nothing at this point and it would turn to flubber after a while. But what fun would that be? Your kids will want to stick their hands in immediately and start mixing. It will take about 10 minutes, but eventually all of the water will be absorbed, and you will have flubber!
Since I am an eco-mom, I did some research on Borax. (I had read on a few blogs that it was toxic which freaked me out). Borax (sodium borate) is a mined substance, just like salt is mined, and occurs naturally in the Mojave Desert, Chile and Tibet. Borax is only slightly more toxic than salt, and in some countries it is used as a salt substitute. Caffeine is 14 times more toxic than Borax! Flouride is more toxic, too. Breathing Borax powder is not a good idea, so don’t let your kids handle the powder. But once it is in it’s polymer form, it is completely safe.
Flubber races are a big hit!
And the kids at art camp were overjoyed!! They had never played with flubber before, it was such a new and awesome sensory experience!
Remind your kids that flubber is not a food! Also, just to be safe, have them wash their hands after playing with their flubber.
Have fun!
xo, Bar
{Tip: Keep your flubber in an airtight container, or a ziploc baggie. it’s shelf life is about 3 weeks. When throwing out your flubber, use the garbage not the sink.}
Where did you buy all the containers?
They are from Amazon, 12oz deli containers.
Does the flubber stick to your hands? My son has “Gak” and it’s a sticky mess. Thanks!
No! This flubber is not sticky. It’s sort of wet to the touch, but leaves hands clean 🙂
My daughters just made flubber at school during science and LOVED it! What a wonderful idea to give it out as party favors… I am happy to have found the recipe.
What exactly do you do with this Flubber?
It’s a very tactile experience. You just play with it, squeeze it, roll it, pull it apart. It’s really fun to cut with scissors, too. It’s also a good stress reliever for grown-ups!
How much flubber does your recipe make? one of the deli containers?…
Good question! I made these last year, but my daughter just reminded me that one batch filled 4 of the deli containers. I hope this helps!
Great pictures and good research! My flubber turned out a little crumbily and not so gooey or stretchy, what do you think my problem is? what do you recommend to get the flubber really stretchy and flexible? Thanks 🙂
Hmmm…I’m not really sure? It’s such a wet process I don’t really know how it became crumbly for you. Maybe you mis-measured the borax? Sorry I’m not much help. I would say to try again!
Did this with my homeschool group today. I used one regular Elmer’s Glue, One off brand glue, and the Clear Elmer’s glue and added glitter. The regular Elmer’s Glue did the best. The off brand just wanted to stay in strands and wouldn’t stick together well at all. The clear looked the best but had a little different texture also. Hope this helps.
my flubber came out really sticky. Not sure what went wrong. I used a recipe for a single portion. I’m having a party and I want all the kids to make their own. Can you recommend measurements for single portions?
Thanks
what a great idea! i’m not exactly sure how to cut the recipe down since it is pure science. but I would suggest just cutting it in half. this will give you enough for one portion but hopefully you haven’t fooled around with the ratio of ingredients too much. hope this helps…let me know how it goes.
I cut the recipe in half because we only had 8 ounces of glue. It came out perfectly and it made a lot! At least enough for 2 generous portions.
thanks amanda, good to know!
Thanks for this brilliant idea. We made it tonight for my son’s 5th birthday. He and I are delighted with the results. Great idea! What is the origin of the name?
yay! glad you tried and it was a success!! i have no idea about origin of the name, but i would guess that it comes from the sound it makes when squeezing?
The name flubber comes from an old movie where a scientist makes a gooey green substance that he uses to his benefit. In the movie flubber is super bouncy so he puts it on the bottom of an entire basketball teams shoes to win a big game!
nice! thanks for sharing that kortnee…
I would love to do this for my daighters
Birthday as well!!How do you make the
Labels for the containers!?
hi lindsey, i made the labels myself. i am a graphic designer so i made them on the computer, then sent them to a local print shop to print on sticker paper. then i hand-cut the circles. but you could make these by hand! you just need to get the sticker paper, then trace a circle and color in with name or maybe paste a photo. good luck!! xo bar
Hi! Can you give me the font of the tag for the containers… I think this is an awesome idea!!! My daughter is turning 6 and would love to do this.
Thanks!!
hi leli…yes, it’s called veneer and i got it from myfonts.com. it’s been 3 years since that party and all three of my kids are STILL loving playing with flubber. we’ve made it 6 times this summer already. your daughter and her friends will love it! and it’s an inexpensive party favor. good luck!! xx bar
I made this once with dollar store glue and overnight most of the water leached out of it. How did you keep it emulsed? Did you just drain the excess water off?
hi shellee, ok so i actually know the answer to this. believe it or not, i made this recipe again recently and it had been about two years. it didn’t work for me at all and i couldn’t figure it out. i kept trying more borax, less borax. but it turns out, with this recipe you MUST use Elmer’s glue. using cheap glue doesn’t work. so try it again with Elmer’s and hopefully you will be successful!! please let me know. xo bar
Are you the Katie with eat live craft?
Does it work?
it does work! we make it all the time. kids love it.
How much food coloring do you use? We made one batch with blue gel food coloring (all they had at the store) and playing with it now a few days later and it is still turning our hands blue! I did let the kids put the color in while I was stirring the borax mixture so I’m sure they added a lot, but I just wondered if there is an exact measurement that won’t have it coming off on our hands. I didn’t see it listed in any of the recipes I’ve found.
hi christy, so i don’t know an exact amount but i usually do about two squirts of liquid watercolor. That might be about 4 tablespoons or so? i’ve never heard of color coming off on hands!! that sounds bad. i’ve never used food gel, though, so maybe that’s a different type of dye that comes off more easily. try again with liquid watercolor, if you have some, and i think you will be happier with the results. good luck!! xo bar
Hi. I am wondering if you used Elmer’s school washable glue or Elmer’s Glue-All Multi-Purpose Glue?
ooh, good question. I just had to look. i think i’ve used both but the last 4 times i’ve made it (this summer in art camp) i’ve used the Elmer’s glue-all. good luck and have fun!! xo bar
Thanks so much for sharing this great recipe! I’m excited to try it with
some of my elementary art classes!
Thanks Elizabeth! We just made it again this week, the kids in art camp played with it for one whole hour!! xo Bar
Can we use any body powder and any white glue like fevicol
Hi Afrah, I am not sure what fevicol is, but I recommend using Elmer’s, not just any white glue. I’ve tried it with generic and it doesn’t work. As far as body powder, do you mean in place of the Borax? I would say that you can’t replace the Borax because it’s a chemical reaction that occurs between the glue and borax that causes it to bind and become flubber. But you can certainly experiment! Let me know if you come up with any new recipe 😉 xo Bar
I works even here in Australia ! The 5 year olds squealed all afternoon with the pink flubber we made. The tennis racquet is still recovering from being flubbered.
Note: we used a local white craft glue containing PVA.
yay!!! this makes me so happy, Cat!! I love the “squeals” of delight. it’s truly magical stuff, right? good to know it works all the way over on the other side of the world. thank you for letting me know!! xo Bar
Made this yesterday with my grandson and it was lots of fun. One thing that happened to us that isn’t mentioned is that ours had bubbles. I thought they were from manipulating it, but we put it in a container and looked at it 20 minutes later and it was covered with air bubbles. Kind of like yeast dough. My daughter says it is still bubbling this morning. And ideas?
We used Elmer’s Glue All and 20 Mule Team Borax.
hmmm…. i have to say I’m not sure about the bubbles, Linda. sounds like some sort or reaction is continuing to happen. I think my friend Asia from Fun at Home with Kids has a whole troubleshooting guide for homemade recipes. you might want to go over to her site and search through a bit. and let me know what you find out! xo bar
How and when do you add color ? Is it food coloring ?
We add the color to the glue bowl before mixing the two bowls. We use liquid watercolor, but you can definitely use food coloring. Hope this helps, Melissa! xo Bar
We used food coloring – combining yellow and red to make orange. Sadly the color turned a pale greenish tan – so disappointing! I LOVE those bright colors you made! Has anyone else had that problem? Do you recommend any particular type of watercolor or food coloring?
I’m so sorry to hear that! unfortunately food coloring doesn’t work that well when mixed. We always use liquid watercolor, and you can mix those really well. Any brand will do. We buy from Blick art supplies.
Hey can you double or quadruple the recipe? We’re making it for a market day at school. Or does it work best just as a single recipe?
Thanks
Katie
hi Katie, yes I have doubled before, I’m sure you can quadruple! Good luck!
Hi
Thank you for the recipy! How much flubber did you make with this recipy?