Recipe for Silly Putty

Do you remember playing with silly putty as a kid? Or even as an adult? I always loved seeing that glorious red egg in my easter basket. Inevitably, it didn't take more than a week or two and it was being thrown away looking more like a ball of lint than the silly putty it started out as. But, it was always fun. I especially enjoyed sticking it to the comics in the newspaper and attempting to read the comics on that pink-colored goop. Hours of cheap entertainment.

I found out recently that you can make your own silly putty at home! WHAT?! Fantastic!! Ok, so...it's not quite silly putty, but it is still really cool. To see how to make it, check it out here.

Photo from Pinterest

It boasts of being silly putty on Pinterest, but in the blog, the author even calls it silly sludge. Similar to putty, but not quite the same consistency.

My nephew and I still had loads of fun with it. One of the things I liked about it was Gabriel was able to help me make pretty much the whole thing with me. There was very little that he wasn't able to do as it didn't involve the stove.

By the way, his shirt in no way exemplifies the team of my choice.

However, if you are a Duck fan - enjoy!! :)

After it was all mixed up, the sludge was really runny and I ended up dumping some of the water out into the sink.

Once it was drained, though, it really was pretty cool to play with. It started out still fairly wet and mushy, but hardened up as it was played with. 

My nephew even experimented with it, seeing if it would copy like silly putty did on newspaper...we had no newspaper, but it did copy from a stamp that was used on a box that had been mailed to us.

You can easily tear it apart and then shape it back together. It really is a strange consistency. Gabe had loads of fun with this, and used it as you would use play-dough also; cutting it out with a Mickey Mouse cookie cutter that I had on hand and shaping it (in any flat form) to his heart's content.

I apologize for the fuzziness of this picture, but it was too cute not to post. 

To save it for another day, just put it in a baggy. We actually did this project a week ago and the sludge is still just as good as it was on day one. The only foreign ingredient that I did not have on hand until I decided to do this project was borax. Though, I believe many people already do have that on hand because of making their own laundry detergent. But, if you don't have it on hand, fear not - it really is affordable...dare I say cheap?! 

This was a great rainy day project that continues to bring smiles. I'd recommend this!