There are a few ways of making bouncy balls at home, but this kit from ALEX Toys is definitely the easiest I’ve seen! Since I blog for ALEX Toys, we get sent a bunch of their products to try; we received a mini version of this kit in the Slimy Sticky Silly Stuff Kid Concoctions set, along with a bunch of other cool activities like the volcano I featured in this post.
Note: This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but will share some commission.
This kit is for ages 6 and up, but four-year-old Lily and five-year-old Johnny were able to do it with close parental supervision. Seven-year-old Emma was able to make a ball completely on her own. The process is simple: fill the mold with little crystals, soak in water, remove and let it sit for the water to do its magic. Open the mold, and you have a colorful bouncy ball!
The balls are sticky when they first come out of the molds (this one is only halfway out – see the pink mold?):
They soon dry out to a normal bouncy ball consistency – and they bounce beautifully! I thought they might fall apart, but they have survived a couple days of hard play with no wear and tear.
They DO have to be kept in plastic bags, or else they dry out. The same is true of every other homemade bouncing ball I have seen. All homemade bouncing balls that I have seen (these included) use ingredients that are not safe to eat, so don’t do this activity with children who put thing in their mouths.
This was a fun, quick activity with a pretty end product that you can PLAY with! I think it’s a great party activity for older kids – we may get a couple kits for Emma’s next birthday party, where I know the kids will be old enough to make the balls on their own with a little supervision. I can’t believe I’ll have an eight-year-old in a few months!
Have you ever made bouncy balls?
We received a kit to make these balls as part of my work as a blogger for ALEX Toys. All opinions are my own.
MaryAnne is a craft loving educator, musician, photographer, and writer who lives in Silicon Valley with her husband Mike and their four children.
Those are the prettiest bouncy balls I’ve seen! Very fun!
We loved making these!
I love how they look! This would be a fun “experiment”.
It was a lot of fun!
Wow, this look fun! Were they very bouncy after they dried? What a fun kit. I’ve never seen one like that before!
They are very bouncy! They get rock hard (and quit bouncing) if you leave them out of the bag – that makes them dry out TOO much!
I never even knew you could make homemade bouncy balls. This is so cool!
Your kids would love this activity! It’s super simple, and the balls are so pretty!
We’ve never tried making bouncy balls. The bright colors are lovely! Looks like fun.
We loved this kit!
They’re such pretty colors, I agree with Natalie. I think it’s pretty cool the stripes didn’t blend into muddy colors.
I was amazed at how beautifully the colors turned out!
That looks like so much fun and I love the bright colors.
We all loved the colors! This kit makes beautiful bouncy balls!
This looks like a fun project. My son loves bouncy balls.
I bet he would love this kit then! The balls we made turned out great!
They certainly look very pretty! You are such a great photographer, MaryAnne, I love that picture of Lily with her ball!
Thank you, Natalie! I love taking pictures, and blogging (and a good camera) has really helped me develop that skill!
Homemade bouncy balls are on our to-do list. Hopefully, we’ll conquer it in the next year. I think J would really like it!
This kit was a very easy way to make our own!