1/22/07

Super Bouncy Ball Fun!

After our day of lounging around and recharging, Matthew pulled out one of his Christmas gifts and asked if we could make it.

Matthew is a very scientific kind of kid and everyone knows his personality well. Therefore, he got tons of kits to make or build things for Christmas. He already built a hand-crank radio with DH. This time, it was a Smithsonian Super Bounce Ball Maker.

He's been asking for weeks to open it, but with the little ones I babysit, it isn't practical to get something with packets of polymer pellets out.

We had a blast making these! The kit has enough supplies to make 10 balls. We only made 5 of them last night.

It was so easy to make them and it involved very little time, no melting of anything, no hot water or hot plastic to burn anyone. IT WAS GREAT!

Yes, some of them are round, some of them are cube-y and one of them has ridges like a melon.

I am not being paid by The Smithsonian Institute to plug their product or anything. I'm just really pleased when you can find something that interests 4 and 8 year-olds alike that doesn't require cutting 4,000 twist ties and searching for enough batteries.

This kit is fast, simple and not really messy at all (unless you spill the pellets). The kids simply pour the pellets into the mold of their choice, place the filled mold in a cup (provided) with cool tap water, let sit 1 minute, take it out and let it set in the mold for 3 minutes, remove from the mold and let dry on wax paper.

Matthew got out his little personal fan to help speed the drying process. We made 5 super bounce balls in 30 minutes and were even able to play with them within about 10 to 15 minutes of starting!

I'd give you the link, but I went to the website to find out how to purchase refill pellets and it's under construction. Darn! Well, I'll be back to check it often. If the refills are a reasonable price, I would even consider letting Matthew make these as gifts for his friends.

1 comment:

Lisa said...

That super bounce ball kit is VERY cool.

I think I need to be on the lookout for that project.