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July 17, 2014

Homemade Silly Putty Recipe

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Homemade silly putty is both a great kids activity and a science project!

After playing with silly putty at engineering camp this week my kids wanted to play with it at home too.  We decided to make some homemade silly putty using items we already had at home. It was a great way to extend their learning and play!

Homemade Silly Putty Recipe

Making silly putty turned out to be a great way to practice thinking like a scientist and using our problem solving skills.  Our first version didn’t turn out very silly putty-ish even though we used a recipe we’ve used many time before.

It was a great chance for the kids to experiment and figure out how to fix it.

Homemade Silly Putty Recipe

  • Elmer’s Glue All – 4 oz (affiliate link)
  • Sta-Flo Liquid Starch 2oz (affiliate link)
  • food coloring

The basic silly putty recipe is 2 parts glue and 1 part liquid starch.  We started with 4 oz of glue and blue food coloring.  Then we added 2 oz of the liquid starch. We mixed it together with a wooden spoon. Once it thickened we then kneaded it for 5 minutes–which is a lot longer than it seems–but we weren’t happy with the consistency.

Homemade Silly Putty for Kids

We decided to let it sit for a little bit and then after about 10 minutes we tried kneading it again. This time it was more silly putty-ish.

The kids had fun bouncing and cutting and squishing the silly putty, but were disappointed to see that it wouldn’t make prints like the store bought kind does. We’ll have to keep working on it!

summer science camp blue 8 weeks

Join me and Erica from What Do We Do All Day? each Thursday this summer for a free Summer Science Camp.  We are sharing classic science experiments that your kids will love!

Head over to see the Balloon Rockets they made this week–I can’t wait to try them!

Don’t let the fun and discovery stop there!

We have TONS of science experiments your kids will love on our Super Cool Science Experiments for Kids page! 

The most fun science experiments for kids ever!

Take me to the experiments –> Super Cool Science Experiments for Kids

About Megan Sheakoski

Megan is the creator of Coffee Cups and Crayons, a blog full of simple fun and learning. She believes that kids’ activities don’t have to be complicated to be fun and that learning is better with play.

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Comments

  1. Erica @ What Do We Do All Day? says

    July 17, 2014 at 8:31 am

    I totally love this! We have to do it!!

    Reply
    • Megan Sheakoski says

      July 17, 2014 at 1:32 pm

      Eeeeek! Those balloon rockets you did are the COOLEST!!!!!

      Reply
  2. Almost Unschoolers says

    July 17, 2014 at 8:49 am

    It’s been so long since we made silly putty I doubt my youngest three even remember it. Hmmm…and I think I have a bottle of liquid starch in the utility room…

    Reply
    • Megan Sheakoski says

      July 17, 2014 at 1:32 pm

      That was the exact same situation here!!!

      Reply
    • Carol says

      April 20, 2019 at 7:04 pm

      Yea I remember making it with my niece. She loved it

      Reply
  3. TRISHA says

    August 13, 2014 at 3:27 pm

    Have you tried making it with borax? Worked really well for us. Same parts glue and water and stir and add food coloring then in separate cup mix 1/2 cup warm water and 1/2 teaspoon borax for ever bottle of glue and mix it in. I’m going to try like this and see which I like better. Not sure if this does the same but it is really neat when you add the water borax mix!

    Reply
    • Megan Sheakoski says

      August 14, 2014 at 1:02 pm

      Yes we have and I personally think the borax works a little better! 😉

      Reply
    • Camilla says

      October 28, 2014 at 7:03 pm

      Hi! I presently live in Germany and over here borax is no longer being sold to private holseholds as it has shown in studies that it i.a. may cause harm to the unborn child. Therefore I assume it is not altogether healty for children either, but that’s just me guessing…

      Reply
      • Megan Sheakoski says

        October 28, 2014 at 10:18 pm

        Hi Camilla! This recipe calls for liquid starch which is different from borax. Are you able to get that in Germany? The brand I have here is Liquid Flo.

        Reply
  4. hada says

    September 16, 2014 at 7:15 pm

    What if i do not hava sta lfo liquid? Anything else can be use

    Reply
    • Megan Sheakoski says

      September 17, 2014 at 8:32 am

      For slime you can sometimes use laundry detergent. You’d have to do a search to find out which brand works the best. For silly putty which is a little bit thicker you can use borax which is also found in the laundry section.
      Instead of the liquid starch add 1/2 teaspoon of borax soap to a 1/4 cup of warm water. Stir together and then slowly pour into the glue while stirring. You’ll want a grown up to work with the borax until it has been completely mixed in.

      Reply
  5. terri says

    September 16, 2014 at 7:42 pm

    Liquid starch is ok for kids to play with???!

    Reply
    • Megan Sheakoski says

      September 17, 2014 at 8:00 am

      As a polymer it’s safe for them to play with, but NOT eat!!! If you have young ones that still put things in their mouth you’d want to save this idea for when they’re older.

      Reply
  6. Renee Jackson says

    September 18, 2014 at 1:07 pm

    I just made this and LOVE it! How did you store this after play? Just an air tight container or plastic bag? How long would you say it lasted? Thanks for this recipe!

    Reply
    • Megan Sheakoski says

      September 18, 2014 at 10:28 pm

      Yay! We stored ours in an air tight container. Ours lasted a couple weeks until they took it outside–may have even lasted longer!

      Reply
    • kellie Neumann says

      September 21, 2014 at 4:27 am

      We stored ours in a zip lock bag and it lasted for around a month until it started to get a little soiled. We found the borax worked better in the mixture.

      Reply
      • Megan Sheakoski says

        September 21, 2014 at 8:50 pm

        Yes, the borax does make it thicker!

        Reply
      • Lol says

        June 13, 2019 at 12:25 pm

        I made slime!!!

        Reply
        • Megan Sheakoski says

          June 13, 2019 at 2:37 pm

          Yay!

          Reply
  7. Natalie Hunt says

    September 20, 2014 at 12:45 pm

    Ours is still really slimy. We didn’t have staflo but used liquid starch. Does the brand matter? We have been kneading for a while now and it isn’t hardening up.

    Reply
    • Megan Sheakoski says

      September 20, 2014 at 7:25 pm

      Hmmm…I wouldn’t think brand would matter, but possibly. Let it sit out for awhile and then knead again. You can also try adding a little more glue and see if that works. Did you add coloring?

      Reply
  8. Abigail simons says

    October 21, 2014 at 4:45 am

    Do u mean PVA glue? I live in the UK and dont know these brands!! Thanks

    Reply
    • Megan Sheakoski says

      October 21, 2014 at 1:10 pm

      Yes, that should be the same thing!

      Reply
    • RIA KENDALL says

      November 28, 2015 at 9:59 am

      Hi I’m in the UK too, what starch product would you use? I’ve not seen liquid starch!
      We have corn starch powder….

      Reply
      • Megan Sheakoski says

        November 28, 2015 at 11:32 am

        I’ve heard that you can use laundry detergent but haven’t tried it. This post http://www.funathomewithkids.com/2014/07/make-slime-with-laundry-detergent.html suggests Almat Laundry Gel Bio. Do you have that?

        Reply
  9. Sandra says

    October 21, 2014 at 11:30 am

    Yes, this is fun and it does work well, but take it from my personal experience, it does NOT come out of carpet or fabric if it goes unnoticed and is allowed to dry. Soaking worked on some of their clothes, but not all. Just be warned. Have fun! 🙂

    Reply
    • Megan Sheakoski says

      October 21, 2014 at 1:10 pm

      Oh no!!!! Good to know! Thanks for the tip!!!

      Reply
  10. sandrabennett says

    October 21, 2014 at 9:39 pm

    Silly putty is a lot of fun. For a follow up activity why not read my book “Gingerbread Aliens” with the kids and see what happens when silly putty accidentally gets mixed up with the cooking dough? A hilarious reading adventure for children of all ages.

    Reply
  11. Theresa @DearCreatives says

    October 28, 2014 at 2:30 pm

    I don’t have little ones but, know someone who does. Passing this on & pinning. Thanks for the diy!

    Reply
    • Megan Sheakoski says

      October 28, 2014 at 4:49 pm

      Thanks Theresa!

      Reply
  12. Lynne says

    October 31, 2014 at 4:52 pm

    In Australia Borax is no longer sold and we can’t get liquid starch either. Would love to make the putty. Any other suggestions for ingredients. We can get Elmer glue, but only in small bottles

    Reply
    • Megan Sheakoski says

      October 31, 2014 at 6:14 pm

      Oh no! Try this post from Asia at Fun at Home with Kids. You’ll have to adjust the amounts a little to make a putty vs a slime. I’ll keep looking to see if I find anything else!

      Reply
      • Janet says

        November 3, 2014 at 6:00 pm

        I live in southern italy And cannot get liquid starci….do you have a y suggestiona

        Reply
  13. Janis says

    December 23, 2014 at 10:27 am

    This is great, and FYI- I couldn’t get regular store bought silly-putty to make prints last time we tried….I figured it was just the way newspapers are printed these days (at least the ones we had here)

    Reply
    • Megan Sheakoski says

      December 26, 2014 at 11:37 am

      Really? What a bummer! I used to love to do that!

      Reply
  14. simon says

    December 31, 2014 at 3:57 pm

    FYI your link to the elmer glue goes to the starch link.
    cheers.

    Reply
  15. Raisingstars says

    February 12, 2015 at 12:49 am

    This is probably waaay too late, but in reply to your question Lynn from Australia- you can find borax at Bunnings, in the detergent/cleaner section. I’m in Australia too(WA) and if it’s well worth making-sooo much fun!

    Reply
    • Megan Sheakoski says

      February 13, 2015 at 7:45 am

      Awesome Raisingstars!!!!! Thanks for helping!!!!

      Reply
  16. Dorothy says

    April 7, 2015 at 4:27 pm

    WHERE DO YOU DO ALL THIS I HAVE A 3 YEAR OLD I LOOK TO DO THING WITH

    Reply
    • Megan Sheakoski says

      April 7, 2015 at 4:35 pm

      Usually in our kitchen or backyard!

      Reply
  17. Avery says

    February 23, 2020 at 9:41 am

    what do you do if you only have elmers glue sticks

    Reply
    • Megan Sheakoski says

      February 24, 2020 at 2:29 pm

      I don’t think there is a way to make glue sticks work.

      Reply

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