Make your own imitation Floam

is the Borax the normal household kind ?

where are the instructions?

I was looking at the things you have on the right margin of this site. Is that part of this page? What's that all about??? The racist stuff is offensive! If your not racist, than why have that stuff on your page? It's like your promoting it.

I wanted to buy FLOAM for my little girl and my step-son. To be honest I myself, being a kid at heart, thought it looked fun. I was drawn in by the add. So, I tried to GOOGLE it and went trough all the things that came up. I'm so glad that I didn't just click on the first one and order. Thank you so much. I'm going to try it.
I was reading through every ones comments to see what everyone thought about it. All my friends are single, so I'm never around other parents. You guys are funny. Some of you are so uptight and frankly, should not be parents. Let your kids be kids!!!

Is nobody else concerned about giving their kids a craft recipe that is made up of such a toxic ingredient? Thanks to Ellen for the great recipe and the link to the hazard page on Borax, but I just can't get over how happily everybody is dealing with a solution whose warnings include:

EFFECTS OF SHORT-TERM EXPOSURE:
The substance irritates the eyes, the skin and the respiratory tract. The substance may cause effects on the central nervous system, kidneys and liver, when ingested. The effects may be delayed.

EFFECTS OF LONG-TERM OR REPEATED EXPOSURE:
Repeated or prolonged contact with skin may cause dermatitis. Animal tests show that this substance possibly causes toxic effects upon human reproduction.

I know it's fun to handle, but I just don't think it's worth the health hazards to kids.

As for the lady looking for an edible version, how about tapioca pudding? Make it a little thick or just let it sit longer. It would be thinner but tasty and still have the little round fun bits. :)

The negative comments made here are obviously from Floam co. employees. That is the only reason they are on this site and this is the only way they can think of to try to get you to buy their product instead of making it yourself. Don't be fooled by their underhanded methods. I was going to buy some Floam, but the comments they made have just convinced me to make my own.

anyone know what happens when you at water to dried floam??? What if you cover it in a clear coat spray paint??? I wanna try something off the wall... i wanna cover my truck in floam... any suggestions

Even if you have money this would be a fun thing to give your child! My son saw the commercial, so we looked it up on the internet, and then I came accross this site. When I told him we could make it instead of buy it, he is extatic! That mom who called the other mom cheap is stupid. Maybe it is someone who works for the floam company. Because I don't know anyone, rich or poor, that would not think this is something great! Thanks to all of you fine people who have added your comments from your tried and learned expieriences - our's is going to be great!

I tried this recipe and it worked great. It was just like the recipe for FLUBBER® that I made when I was a kid. All five of my kids enjoyed this project. We used the neon colors of food coloring along with some of the classics. All is good!

As Spring Break draws to a close, my 6 year old daughter wanted to invite a friend over. O.k. now what do we do? Floam. The answer to everything is now Floam. We made the recipe and had a blast! It worked great. I am so pleased that the girls are having fun and giggling. They think the stuff is really weird. It does feel very strange. But hey, they know how to use the dustbuster and are having as much fun with that as they are the floam.

all the slime stuff is is just vinyl acetate held together by borax ions, i made it in a chemistry lesson a while back. using poly viyl alcohol instead of PVA glue makes the same sort of thing but its more tansparent.

if anyone wants to make slime, mixing 25ml 4% PVA solution and 5ml 4% borax solution (both in water)will make a fun slime. adding more PVA makes it runnier and more borax makes it stickier. THIS WILL STICK TO CLOTHES AND FURNITURE

As soon as i hard floam dries i usely play with floam for at least 15 min.

Take care when using Borax,it is extremely toxic if swallowed !!

WE HAD A BLAST MAKING THIS BUT IT IS MESSY.

I JUST HAD A VACUUM CLEANER BESIDE THE TABLE AND SWEPT UP THE MICROBEADS THAT GOT ALL OVER.

JUST A HELPFUL HINT....

I just tried to make floam with my kids and the beads are apart from the mixture. I did use school glue.... Is the recommended glue Elmer's glue?

I will get some and try it..

Hi, just read through the recent posts and came across the man who attcked the mother for making this as a birthday present for her daughter -MORE people should be doing this. Remember some people have nothing better to do with their time than sit on the pc all day, and find sites to be able to ridicule, belittle and hurt people. To all of you out there who do that - get a life!!! To all parents who spend quality and creative time with thier kids, they will always remeber this and carry it on with their children - good on you, the best thng you can ever do. My heart goes out to the mother. Now its our turn, I'm sure we will encounter the problems others have had, but who cares (even if the walls need redecorating), it will still have been fun!!!! Thank you for the recipe.

How much does the borax cost about and the micro beads and the ban bag filler because i really want to make it but i dont know how much money everything is about ya know so if people who have made it can help me put on the prices that would be awesome

how do you remove the stain of it from carpet

I tired this recipe and it turned out to be quite tasty!

I have followed two different recipes to floam. One was yours above, the other I paid $1.35 on Ebay for 70 fun recipes for kids that included a different version. Made one batch with nothing but the microbeads, made a 2nd with nothing but the bean bag beads then a third with both. So far, getting kind of the same reaction. First batch made about 2 cups worth of a hard clay-like blob but I may have not mixed it enough before adding the beads. The second and third batches are sitting for their 15 minutes as I type this. I bought enough beads to last a lifetime. My kids are super excited though. Hope the 2nd and 3rd batches come out right cause the first one won't stick to anything they have tried. Gotta mix really good before adding those beads!! Will keep you posted. Incidently, I am using neon food coloring and it looks really cool so far! OK. It is still a little watery. Will add more borax.

So I finally got around to finding some microbead-based pillows on sale
("Cheer" pillows at The Limitted Too, buy 1 get 2 free, each pillow
yielding some 7 liters of beads, so ... WAY too many beads for $8...)
Dug out the 4% PVOH (Polyvinyl alcohol from www.chemistrystore.com) and
borax from last year's slime experiments, and cooked up a batch...

Wetting the beads with borax solution (in a ziplock) before adding
the PVOH seemed to work pretty well, WRT getting everything mixed.
However, the ending mix isn't "sticky" enough, and the beads tend
to pop out when playing with it.
Moreso after it dries. I think real "glue" is somewhat
stickier than PVOH, so that might work better. I should compare.
Surfacants (maybe some shampoo?) might help. More experimentation
required...

Thought I'd mentioned that most PVA glues are diluted considerably, and this could be the cause of some problems being experienced here. Different makes will have different dilution rates and therefore will cause variation in "wetness". Also, PVA obtainable in large tubs from DIY sources/builders' merchants carries a hazard symbol due to its more concentrated nature.

I'd also like to comment on some of the negative remarks made in the past. Cost may well be an issue with many folk, especially those with several children and a low income. That's not the only issue, though, as far as making these materials is concerned! The whole thing is a precious learning and sharing experience that parent and child can enjoy, regardless of whether the final product is regarded as "fun" after more than 5 minutes! It's craft and science combined, especially if the parent takes the time to find out why the material works as it does, and explains the concepts.

Good luck to you all, and long may the "inventive, frugal, and experimental crafter" reign!

Steve

wow, was just looking how to get floam cheaper that the tv set. Its nearly £30 to get the tv set and as I`m a carer for my mother and can`t work I`m stuck for cash. This will help me greatly, thanks. But doe`s it harden like the tv stuff? My daughter has bugged me for this for months!

I'm thinking of a major project using floam, but I have some concerns.
does the floam harden and can you light it up very well? If any one knows it would be very helpful.

My daughter is like any other kid and has seen the ads on TV for this stuff. I always said no as it seemed like the last thing I wanted around my house to make a mess with and because I've had experience with the order from the TV people before where it doesn't show up when should/told, can't reach anyone, etc. and I wasn't going there again! Science fair at my daughter's school is this year and guess what seemed like a cool idea - answering the question of can we make floam ourselves?! Did a search online and what did I find - this site and in checking back a couple of months later, all these wonderful and helpful posts! Thank you all for finding this site too and for those that started it and put floam on in the first place, thank you double! We haven't tried it yet but certainly have tons of words of wisdom when we do. I'll keep you updated on how our experience goes and what those at the science fair think.

You might find this site useful:
http://www.bp.com/liveassets/bp_internet/globalbp/STAGING/global_assets/downloads/M/Making_polymers_or_Slime_Activity.pdf

How do you get the floam out of clothing???

Well, I've read through each of the posts here and I have to say there is quite a wide range of opinions, however, we are going to attempt to make floam for my daughters class project. She has to make a BEE out of any material and I thought that floam covered styrofoam balls would work great. Thanks for all the ideas and we'll let you know if the floam recipe worked!

I made the floam last night with my 3 year old son . It works great he is playing with it now i had to keep adding the borax a tea spoon at a time till i got the right mixture . I did use the easy floam directions and i made a double batch thanks again
Easy Floam

This makes a smaller amount of floam, but is still plenty, and is by far the easiest!

* Put 1 Tablespoon of white glue into a ziploc bag. (Not school glue!)
* Add 3 Tablespoons of water.
* Add food color of choice.
* Add about 3 ounces (one Dixie bathroom cup) foam beads.
* Add 1 teaspoon of Borax (laundry detergent). It must be Borax.*

Knead mixture in bag. If too watery, add more Borax 1/4 teaspoon at a time. Let stand 5 minutes.

STREETS IN HEAVEN ARE PAVED IN FLOAM ......

Did this stain your hands? The colors are probably great but I know it stains. My kids are bugging me for floam so I think I'll try this.

We tried the recipe and it worked very well, we also bought the original product from Walmart which is not as good.
We bought a $3.00 clearance teddy bear stuffed with the beads and dissected him.
We used "Aleene's" original Tacky Glue and it works great, we tried the Clear Gel Glue from "Aleene's and id didn't hold together as well but the colors were better, I will keep experimenting.
I think 5/3 of a cup is too much and am going to try 1 cup next.
We used very hot water to help mix and it worked great.
The DIY stuff is much more fun and less expensive than the original, we have enough materials to make 40 or 50 batches for around $10.00

your skin is an organ, it absorbs all chemicals that you come into contact with most of the time- and making floam on your own with all of this glue and borax etc. doesn't sound healthy for my kid. I would not be suprised if your kids get sick or have bad reactions to this mess. Rashes or whatever. jakeagic@alltel.net

i hear you can buy borax in boots the chemist in the uk. do you know the price? expensive or not?

I TRIED THIS RECIPE AND FOUND THAT IF YOU MIX THE GLUE SOLUTION AND BORAX SOLUTION TOGETHER IN A ZIPLOCK BAGGIE AND KNEAD THEM TOGETHER FOR ABOUT 15 MINUTES AND THEN ADD 3 DROPS OF FOOD COLORING AND CONTINUE TO MIX UNTIL MIXED TOGETHER THAN ADD THE MICRO BEADS (I USED THE MICROBEADS OUT OF A SQUISHY PILLOW) AND THIS WORKED REALLY FANTASTIC.THE COLOR CAME OUT PERFECT I USED NEON FOOD COLORING.

LINDA

Mix: 2 Table spoons of Elmer's glue
2 Table spoons of water
Coloring

Mix: Half cup water
1 Table spoons of Borax

Combine the two and then work the silly putty and rinse it under the faucet to get any borax powder out of it. For nice bright colors, I use about a teaspoon of acrylic paint to color it.

Mix: 2 Table spoons of Elmer's glue
2 Table spoons of water
Coloring

Mix: Half cup water
1 Table spoons of Borax

Combine the two and then work the silly putty and rinse it under the faucet to get any borax powder out of it. For nice bright colors, I use about a teaspoon of acrylic paint to color it.

I work at a toy store where we sell the "real" $8 a tub floam. Several people have mentioned that the floam gets gluey after a while, or that they can't get the beads to mix in a stay put- I've been playing with our floam for weeks now, and guess what? The same thing happens to the factory made stuff. We've had returns and some we just had to throw out- so make the home made recipe and if it doesn't work- you didn't waist a ton of money!

I saw a few colors of Floam for sale at my local Target. They're in the toy section, in the same aisle as Play-Doh. I think each tub was $6.99.

I think it's terrific that you came up with recipes to make it at home. I'm trying to avoid the addiction, despite near-constant nagging by my 6-yr-old. It just seems so messy and chemical-y. So far, I've been offering to let the kids make sugar cookies or homemade clay instead. G-d help me stay strong!

OK something is very wrong
I got my son all ecxited and then we tried to make floam followed the rec. and nothing it turned in to a big gulp and the water and beats where seperated from it I tried twice and gave up any suggetions??? please help

I did exactly as the instructions said to do and it turned out to be the worst experiment I have ever done in my life. I am a science teacher and I would know how to do experiments. We tried this experiment in our class and all of the balls kept floating to the top of the bowl. Now don't tell me that I shouldn't have used a bowl because it would work if you put it in a sink. If any person on this website decides to try this experiment, then think again because it is a waste of time and ingredients. Thank you I have made my point.

OK there is way too may of you Martha Stewart type Moms on here going to the ends of the earth to make this Floam crap for your kids. That is just crazy. When my kids ask for this stuff when the commercial is on I just say, "No sorry we are not getting that." and that's the end of it. Why is that so hard for you Moms to do. Good Greif mix borax with glue and PVC and beads and knead and on and on and on....I bet soon as you make it they play with it for 5 minutes and are over it. What a joke! "JUST SAY NO"