Video:How to Make Silly Putty

Transcript:How to Make Silly Putty

Hi, I'm James Clinard for About.com. Today I'm going to show you two different methods of making silly putty.

How to Make Silly Putty with Borax

For the first method, you'll need:

• 1/4 cup of glue
• 3/8 cup of water
• 1 tablespoon of borax

Make a 50-50 mixture of glue and water using one quarter cup of glue and one quarter cup of water. If you'd like to colorize your silly putty, add some food coloring to this mixture. The more food coloring you add, the richer the color will be.  

Next, dissolve the borax in 1/8 cup of water. Combine the borax-water mixture with the glue-water mixture. If you find that your silly putty is too sticky, add more borax one teaspoon at a time until you reach your desired consistency.

How to Make Silly Putty with Liquid Starch

For the second method, you'll need:

• 1/4 quarter cup liquid starch 
• 1/2 cup glue

Pour the liquid starch into a bowl, and then add in the glue. Once again, if you want to color your silly putty, add some food coloring. Mix the liquid starch and glue together. If your silly putty is too sticky, add additional liquid starch until you reach your desired consistency. 

Whichever method you choose, keep your silly putty in a sealed plastic bag when you're not using it so that it doesn't harden. It's also helpful to keep this plastic bag in the refrigerator. 

Making silly putty is a fun activity that also demonstrates some basic principles of chemistry. 

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