Have you ever seen floam in the store or in kid magazines? I’ve never bought this play material because it’s pricey, but my kids have begged me to buy it! I’ve thought about purchasing it, but honestly, I wanted to see if I could make some myself.
I found a recipe for homemade floam on Pinterest and they recommend using Poly-Fil Micro Beads
Here’s what you need to make floam:
- 1 cup of grated styrofoam
- 1 tsp. Borax
- warm water (1/4 cup and 2 tablespoons, divided)
- 2 tablespoons of white glue
- Gallon-size Ziploc bag
- food coloring (optional)
How to make it:
- In a small bowl, mix 1/4 cup of warm water with 1 tsp. of Borax.
- In another bowl, mix two tablespoons of white glue with 2 tablespoons of warm water. Mix in food coloring.
- Pour the glue and water mixture into the Ziploc bag.
- Add the 1 cup of grated styrofoam into the Ziploc bag. Make sure the styrofoam is coated with the glue mixture.
- Pour in the water and Borax mixture. Seal the bag and mix the ingredients. (The floam will form quickly.)
- Take the floam mixture out of the bag and mix with your hands. I squeezed out excess water into the sink until I got it to the right consistency.
I made three batches in a row (for three colors) using this method and it worked every time. I found that the more I played with it in my hands, the better it felt. At first, it felt a little rough from the styrofoam, but after a couple minutes, it felt better and was a good consistency.
Then the kids played with it!
The kids enjoyed molding the floam into balls, flattening it, or just squeezing it. It’s a great stress reliever!
This was such a fun sensory play activity to try out. I kept the floam in sealed Ziploc bags. We’ve had ours for several days and it hasn’t dried out. (I will update this post to share how long it lasts after I find out!)
This was day 30 of the 31 Days of Play Series. To see all the play activities, visit here.
This looks great! Can’t wait to try it!
Georgina @ Craftulate recently posted…Slow Cooker Play Dough
Im really hope that this doesnt turn out to be a fail. I love doin sensory stuff, and the other one became a FAIL!! *tear*
But I look forward to mixing this batch up.. I noticed that it has less white glue and less Borax, so maybe it wont turn out as slimy!!!
I look forward to this! 😀
I tried this recipe and after few minutes of playing the little pallets separate from the dough making a mess all over…what am i doing wrong?
Oh no! I’m so sorry. It definitely should stay together. Let me try the activity again at home and see if I can figure out why that happened…I’ll get back to you!
Hi Anita! I just did the recipe again and it worked for us. Did you use grated styrofoam or styrofoam filler beads? The water/borax mixture is what keeps everything together so perhaps it needed more of that? Or maybe there was too much of the styrofoam? It should definitely stay together and not make a mess after you knead it for a minute or two. I wish I had more advice!
The micro styrofoam I bought online doesn’t work for me, they separate from the dough but when i tried the big one for bean bags it worked great. I will try to grate some styrofoam and see how it works. Thank you.
Hi! Can you use baking soda or something else in place of Borax?
I am not sure…I haven’t tried it out!