Family Project Weekend: DIY Bouncy Ball!

See this?  It's Jupiter.  It bounces.  And we made it. :)

Family Project Weekend came in a bit early because of this snazzy little science project we got from FullyBooked:  Weird Science's Bouncy Ball Factory!  It holds so much promise! :P

Actually, it holds two halves of a plastic orb and 4 packets of colored crystallized powder.  You gotta admit, how all these can possibly become a ball that bounces is intriguing.

Step 1:  We snapped the two halves of the plastic orb to form a vessel of sorts.  The ball-shaped thingy has a funnel on top and tiny, pinpoint holes all around its body.  For what is a mysteryyyy...

Step 2:  FUN!  We poured the crystallized powder in.  A word of warning to OC moms, this is gonna be messy.

Step 3:  We mixed in the colors to form a Jupiteresque pattern for our future ball.  Because planets bounce in our world. Uh-huh.  A little shake gave us a more compact sphere.

Step 4:  Then we submerged our powder-filled orb in water.  We let it stand in that little pool for 3 minutes.  Your container doesn't have to be microwave-safe, of course.  Lol!

Step 5:  We pulled it out and --here's the tough part-- waited for the crystals in the orb to harden.  That's like 5 minutes of hard time for my impatient little scientists.  Painful, painful hard time. 

Step 6:  5 minutes up, we cracked the orb open!

Step 7:  Well, well, well, look who's turned into a ball!
But ...will it bounce?

I think my boys can vouch for that.

Yup, Adora-BALL. :P
Weird Science's Bouncy Ball Factory is available at FullyBooked for Php245.00.  Great hands-on science project you can do with your kids this weekend!  You'll have to explain to them how water hardens crystals though, and how that leads to bouncing.  That's all part of Creative Parenting.  Hehe... good luck!