My boys like to do crafts and learn how to make things, like how to make silly putty.
I had to come up with some boy crafts to do this week. My boys like slimy, gooey crafts.
What boy doesn’t like to make stuff like that? I decided we would learn how to make silly putty this week. The 11 year old had a great time and thought this was so cool. I am not sure who liked it more the 3 year old or the 11 year old.
How To Make Silly Putty
Silly Putty Ingredients:
1 Tblsp Borax
1 Cup Water
1 Tablespoon Water
1 Tablespoon Glue
a few drops Food Color (optional)
Directions How to Make Silly Putty:
1. Take and warm 1 cup of water in the microwave for about a min. You want warm water, but not hot.
2. Add one Tablespoon of Borax and dissolve completely in the water. This may take a little while until it is completely dissolved.
3. After the Borax is dissolved in the water, place 1 Tablespoon of the Borax water in a baggie. Then add 1 tablespoon glue (Elmer’s works the best) and Tablespoon of water. To add a little color to your silly putty, add 3-4 drops of child’s favorite food coloring. We choose yellow and blue.
4. This is the fun part of this craft. Squish all that up for about two minutes or less. The boys thought this was so cool and squishy.
5. And then take out the gluey mix and start to kneed it in your hands. Both of the boys thought this was so cool to pull and stretch the slimy silly putty. A quiet fidget toy they can play with around the house.
6. Finally store the silly putty in a plastic Easter egg for safe keeping.
Silly putty tip: If the silly putty is left out on the counter for a long period of time like little face did, just add a few more drops of water in the egg and store. It will come right back.
That is how to make silly putty using a few simple ingredients you have around the house. Borax can be used for crafts too. Learn how Borax is a used to make crystal Christmas ornaments.
Disclosuer: Thanks to Borax for supplying me with a box to try. No other compensation was given. All thoughts and opinions and pictures in this article are my own.
Stacy @Stacy Makes Cents says
July 12, 2013 at 5:34 amI love borax! I use it for all sorts of things – laundry detergent – ant killer – scrubbing the toilet. Good stuff. 🙂 Visiting from The Thriftiness Miss.
[email protected] says
July 12, 2013 at 12:25 pmI love Borax! I am a fairly new borax user. I use it to boost my clothes washing and it works great. I use it also to scrub my tub and bath mat all nice and white! I am loving it so far and can’t wait to discover what other uses I can use it for. I would LOVE To win this!!
Betsy Mitchell says
July 12, 2013 at 11:36 amI love using borax around the home and who knew you could make your own silly putty? Great post!
Claudia says
July 12, 2013 at 12:57 pmI would use borax to make my own laundry deterget. Thank you for the chance to win!
Claudia says
July 12, 2013 at 12:58 pmemail subscriber with email
nclaudia25 at yahoo dot com
Donna Cheatle says
July 12, 2013 at 2:26 pmI will use it to make laundry detergent and also to make carpet cleaner! It works great. I’ve been using it for years and it’s one of those products that has dozens of uses!
Jill @ Real Life Notes says
July 13, 2013 at 7:51 pmI’ve always wanted to dry Borax for laundry detergent!
Teresa Young says
July 16, 2013 at 8:03 pmMy grandson has been saying he wants Silly Putty – it would be fun to use Borax to make it with his.
Anne H says
July 19, 2013 at 12:59 pmI love Borax!
Anne H says
July 19, 2013 at 1:04 pmAnd I’ve made silly putty and use it in my washing machine
Katie L says
July 20, 2013 at 6:12 pmI would use it to make my own laundry detergent
David says
July 22, 2013 at 11:44 amI read that it works great at removing mold and mildew from the window sills. I would use it for that.
Kristin says
September 25, 2013 at 11:05 amIs it 1 TSP or TBSP of water? Your recipe says TBSP and your directions say TBSP. Thanks!
Kristin says
September 25, 2013 at 11:12 amdirections say TSP
Amy says
September 25, 2013 at 11:23 amIt is Tablespoon. I have started spelling it out, because it confuses me so much! I hope that clears it up.
janine says
March 6, 2014 at 3:05 pmWow – that was disappointing. Followed the ingredients and directions (went with 1 tsp of water not 1 tbsp). But the texture is not like silly putty at all. I thought it was a great idea mixing it in the bag, but it turned out not to be the best. After rolling, squishing and mixing for a few minutes you are left with a very rubbery ball of glue and a bunch of colored water that will not mix in. We rinsed it and dried it, but it isn’t very pliable at all. Once you rip it apart (does not stretch) it is very hard to work it back together. Will try again with another recipe.
Amy says
March 20, 2014 at 6:38 amI am sorry this did not work for you. If you try one tablespoon of water, you may have better results. Not all of the water will mix in with the glue and it is ok. You may want to try using a different glue. We had really great results with Elmer’s glue.
Kim says
April 11, 2014 at 12:12 pmHI…. FYI: your measurements are not all corrected, your LISTING of ingredients vs INSTRUCTIONS still have TBLS vs Teaspoon incorrect for the water.
We just made it at Boy Scouts and this is how I made it:
First, I dissolved 1 Tablespoon of Borax in 1 cup of warm water
Then I had the boys add
1 tablespoon Elmers glue and 1 tablespoon of water in zip lock bag and had them zip and mix (Equal parts)
Add few drops of food coloring (optional)
We then added 1 teaspoon of the Borax water solution to their bags.
For some kids, that was perfect.
For other kids, their mixture was too sticky so I took their mix out of the bag and with their mix in my hand, I dipped it into the water/Borax solution, then put it back in the bag, mixed and everyone’s was PERFECT!
It gets better and better the more the kids play with it!
We put everyone’s Silly Putty in the Plastic Easter eggs. Ours is 4 days old and still perfect. Bottom line….Silly Putty is FUN!
This was great idea and the only place I could find measurements for individual silly putty mixes. Thank you for a GREAT idea and fun project!
Kim says
April 11, 2014 at 12:14 pmToo much borax makes it stiff. I had that problem the first time too. I added 1 teaspoon of the borax/water solution and added more if it was too sticky.
Jen says
September 14, 2016 at 9:03 amYou do know that girls like squishy stuff too, right?
Amy says
September 15, 2016 at 8:55 amYes. During this time I was having a difficult time finding crafts geared towards boys. I have boys and a girl. Crafts for girls are easy to find.
Rina Peterson says
December 11, 2016 at 11:35 amlike your recipe thanks /yes send me a coupon
Julie says
March 10, 2018 at 6:47 pmI used to love silly putty when I was a kid, what fun. and making your own sounds even better!