EduCrafts: Rainbow Flubber
In this craft, we’ll be making rainbow-coloured flubber out of Borax, Elmer’s
glue, and food colouring. It shouldn’t take more than an hour.
The Lesson:
This craft is an opportunity to teach about how different chemicals affect
texture and consistency, as well as the differences between covalent and
hydrogen bonds. Elmer’s glue is made of a polymer material, which is a string
of identical molecules. The Borax links all of these molecules together, which
creates the soft, flexible flubber substance.
In the flubber, there are covalent bonds within the molecules, and hydrogen
bonds between the molecules. Hydrogen bonds are easily broken and
reformed, when you twist and tear the putty apart and put it back together.
What you need:
-Borax
-Elmer’s glue
-food colouring
Step 1. Mix 2 tbsp. of Borax with a ½ cup of warm water
Mix the Borax and warm water together until the mix is consistent.
There shouldn’t be any chunks or dry powder left after mixing.
Step 2. Mix 1 cup of Elmer’s glue with ¾ a cup of water
Mix the glue and warm water together until the mix is consistent.
Make sure that it doesn’t have any chunks remaining. The mixture
should be less thick than glue, but not too watery.
Step 4. Add food colouring
Choose any colours you like. When you’re mixing different colours
together to make rainbow flubber, more vibrant colours are best.
Step 5. Add the two bowls together
Add the first bowl of Borax and water with the second bowl of
glue, food colouring, and warm water. This is where the dryness of
the Borax and the stickiness of the glue will mix together to form
the squishy, flexible flubber substance.
Step 6. Mix until consistent
Make sure that the texture is consistent. Add Borax or glue,
depending on whether the substance is too sticky or too dry.
Step 7. Mix all of the colours together and have fun!
Mash and roll all of the colours together into one big, bright, blob.
After that, have fun! The substance will be flexible and bouncy. You
can mould it into a variety of different shapes, stick it to the table,
and bounce it on the floor. If it isn’t too sticky it won’t make a
mess!