Name: Cristi
Original Inspiration: http://chemistry.about.com/od/demonstrationsexperiments/ss/bounceball.htm
What I Did: My ten year old and I had all the materials, the instructions were easy and we were stoked. After an afternoon of failed recipes (chocolate chip bacon pecans cookies are NOT tasty), we were ready to have some fun. Homemade bouncy balls!!! Let’s do this.
My Result:
Next Time I Will: What would I do differently next time? I’d walk to the grocery store with a pocket full of quarters and let my kids go nuts on the bouncy ball machines. I wanna know who took the picture used on Pinterest!?!?
Comments on this post
Your picture is accurate of what those polymer balls should look like. I use this with my students every year. The pic on that web page is just a pic of bouncy balls, not the real polymer balls. You didn’t screw up.
21. November - 8:39 amI came to say the same thing as Erin. I used to make this with students and what you have is perfect.
26. November - 4:34 pmI just want to say keep it up for all of us.I get a lot of important information from this post..I really enjoy it so much..:-)
5. December - 9:39 ambouncing balls for sale
We made these as well and I was at least wise enough from enough pinterest fails to know to try it before trying it with my group of kids at work. Glad I did! Well, not only were they ugly and opaque, but a ‘bouncy’ ball should probably come more than an inch off the ground. I’ve seen metal balls bounce higher.
Glad someone else knows my frustration.
28. December - 11:13 amThe little “polymer” balls in the picture are actually water marbles. They look like little seeds, you add water to them and they grow to exponentially. They are neat little things, but make one heck of a mess if they escape and bounce everywhere.
5. February - 4:44 pmI took the picture posted on Pinterest and also supplied the original tutorial, based on an American Chemical Society project. They ‘trick’ to getting balls to look like the photo is to use clear glue.
15. May - 10:40 am