Homemade Floam

First thing, if you have children that put things in their mouths, DO NOT DO THIS WITH THEM.  This is a “when Sissy is taking a nap” play-thing at my house.

         

We made this and it was fun to make and even more fun to play with.  Have you ever bought a container of extremely overpriced Floam?  This is for you.  Here is the what you will need: 2 tsp of Borax, 1 1/3 cup of styrofoam micro beads, 1/4 cup of white glue, water, and food coloring.

        

First dissolve 2 tsp of Borax completely into 1/2 cup of water.  Once it is dissolved you can just put this to the side for now.  Take 1 1/3 cups of micro beads (made by Poly-fil) and put in a quart or gallon size zipper bag.  In a measuring cup, mix 1/4 cup of glue and 1/4 cup of water together.  Pour this mixture into the zipper bag. 

             

Now you can add a several drops of food coloring or use icing coloring paste.  If you use the paste, just dip a toothpick in and then smear it on the glue mixture in the bag.  Close the bag and squeeze and mush until everything is evenly distributed.  Add ONE TBSP of the water with Borax dissolved in it (you will have a lot left over).  Close the bag again and kneed for 10 minutes.  Let the Floam sit for about 10 minutes.  Then you can kneed again for a couple of minutes and open it and play!

      

Here is my pig.  Here is Cole’s fish.  I think it just happened to look like it when he was playing and stopped and named it fish.  He also made a swimming pool for the fish. 

         

We had a lot of fun, but I used the icing coloring paste and it left tell tale signs on our hands.  It did wash off easily and came off completely.  Our hands got tinted for the first 3-4 times, but started to stop after that.  I might have just used too much paste, but be warned…it can happen, but it wasn’t a big deal at all.

I don’t have many craft supply options where I live, so I do want to let you know that the only place I could find the styrofoam microbeads was at JoAnn Fabrics.  Walmart and Hobby Lobby did not carry it.  No hidden agenda here, just trying to save you guys from bopping all over town to find these.  You can always just swipe some from and old bean bag chair or stuffed animal, too.  If you do buy it from JoAnn, the regular price is pretty high so be sure to go to their site and print a 40% of regular priced item coupon or grab one as you enter the store (brings a big bag down to about $10).  They usually have their flyers at the front and almost always, they have a 40% off coupon on the very back.  You get a pretty good size bag so you can make a lot of Floam (great party favor idea or frugal gift) or use the remaining for other crafts.