Homemade Floam
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.
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Here’s what you need to make floam:
- 1/2 cup Poly Fil micro beads
- 1 tsp. Borax powder
- 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 small 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 1/2 cup of micro foam beads into the Ziploc bag. Squeeze the bag around to make sure the beads are 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 found that the more I played with it in my hands, the better it felt.
Then the kids played with it! They 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.
Hope you’ll try this out!
Hi Angela,
We tried the recipe to a -T- and although it worked better than the last recipe it did not hold together. A sticky mess is what we ended up with, I could barely scrap it off my hands. More of the consistency of sticky slime, that would not hold it’s shape and the beads (yes the correct crafting/ bean bag chair ones) kept falling out of it:(
Your’s looks perfect in the above pic, what’s your secret?
Thanks~Gina
Oh that’s awful! I’m so sorry for the mess! It sounds like you followed the recipe perfectly. I wonder if it’s the brand of Borax? Or maybe the brand of the glue? When things are pretty sticky (like with slime) I add in more Borax/water or I even use saline solution (which must contain boric acid.)
would regular Elmar’s clear glue work? What would it be like without the foam beads, slime?
Yes, clear glue would work. Without the foam beads, it would probably be like slime.
Hello!
I was wondering what can be done to make the dough smell less of glue. Do you think essential oils would work? Probably not, but I thought I’d ask!
I’m not sure! I haven’t experimented to see. Maybe a scented glue?
Hello, I was going to make this with a group of 4-6 year olds. We have not done any activities that use Borax, I was wondering if it will irritate the kids skin as they play with it? (that is our only concern, but i am looking forward to trying this!)
Since there is a chance a child could have a reaction to Borax, I would recommend trying a different recipe. Or sending an email to the parents about it before doing the activity. The main problem is that it can irritate the skin for some people. I would hate for that to happen to you, so I would err on the side of caution.
I made the floam with contact lens solution. It is a Super sticky mess all over my hands. Maybe I’ll try to add more foam ..?
Oh no! I’m sorry. Does your contact solution include “boric acid”?
How much floam does this recipe make?
It makes the amount shown in the picture, so enough for one person to play with. Hope that helps!
Hi, I’m a high school student and I’m going to do a demonstration speech about this floam. However, I was wondering if I could use eye contact solution instead of borax? Can you please try it out and get back to me. I really don’t want to fail this demo speech. Thanks!
I would think that it would work, however I cannot try it out for you at this time. If you are doing a demo speech, it’s wise to do the experiment ahead of time to make sure it works.
Yes, that’s what I’m trying to do. I’m asking because I never really made slime it anything related to that. And I really don’t know where to find it. But that’s all I really want to know, if I can make floam without borax and use eye contact solution instead.
Good Luck Nicole
Hi! Can you use baking soda or something else in place of Borax?
I am not sure…I haven’t tried it out!
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.
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! 😀
Good Luck Nicole
This looks great! Can’t wait to try it!
Georgina @ Craftulate recently posted…Slow Cooker Play Dough
It looks like Play dough but softer for a egg drop you helped thanks
I tried this in three different ways and each time all the Styrofoam beads come loose and make a mess all over the place. Any suggestions?
Oh no! I’m sorry! Are you using the micro sytrofoam beads? Make sure to have the tiniest ones you can find! And I would also recommend using Elmer’s glue, if you aren’t already.