Flubber is seriously one of my favorite mediums to present in my classroom. Everyone loves flubber because it has such a unique feeling and behaves like no other medium. It moves like it’s name. It’s a little squishy, bouncy, stretchy. There is a feedback sensation when you squeeze it. You can chunk it up with your fingers or a knife and if you leave it alone for a minute it will soften back down into a nice puddle like pancake.
Flubber Recipe
This recipe makes enough for 3-4 kids. I teach 6-8 kids at a time so I double the recipe. Merry flubber making.
1. Mix 2 cups water and 1 ½ cups Elmers glue in a big bowl.
2. Add a squirt of liquid water color and then stir it up.
3. In a separate small bowl mix together: 1 cup water and 1.5 TBS Borax.
4. After it’s completely dissolved, pour the Borax mixture SLOWLY and A LITTLE AT A TIME into the glue and water mixture. Pour a little, mix it a little, pour a little, mix a little. Mix with your hands or a sturdy wooden spoon. The consistency is slimy at first but as the mixture blends it stiffens.
5. Store it in an airtight container or ziploc for a few weeks.
For this project I decided to give it a Halloween twist by hiding fun little creatures and characters under the flubber. I store my flubber in an airtight container in between play. I pull it out in chunks and give it about 15 minutes to full settle onto a tray before I hand it out to students to explore. Above and below are before and after pictures of setting up the creature treasure hunt in the flubber.
My adventurous students went straight into the flubber with their hands to pull out the hidden treasures. Others were more cautious using scissors or safe clay tool knives.
This was the first time ever that I did not dye the glue and instead kept the color white. I thought it would work fun with the Halloween theme and be a good background for all the critters. You can also use Gel Glue for a translucent flubber which would look more like slim and work well with the theme.
Some students figured out they could lift up the flubber and peak underneath or even flip it over to expose the hidden creatures and do-dads. Most of the creatures were purchased at our local Halloween store. The lineup included: spiders, giant ants and flies, miniature rats, lizards, centipedes, Mardi Gras beads, and miniature pumpkins.
After each object was unearthed from the flubber everyone had a great time squishing them back in and setting up scenes.
