Fart Putty

The boys received Noise Putty (or "Fart Putty") in their Easter baskets from their aunt and uncle.  The stuff is HILARIOUS!

Unfortunately, only one of them worked.  The other had a strange consistency that was not letting it produce any of the anticipated noises.  Bummer.

We found more at the Dollar Tree and oddly enough, of the two we bought, one didn't work.  So now we have four jars of Fart Putty- 1 red, 1 green, and 2 yellows.  Guess which two didn't work.  Neither of the yellows (bought in different states) are any good.  Probably just coincidence, but makes you wonder about the dyes.

I found a recipe for homemade fart putty online.  It called for borax, white glue, and water.  Simple.

Our first attempt did not work.  I only had washing soda and Elmer's School Glue (which I had read wouldn't work, but that Elmer's All Purpose Glue would).  But we tried anyway.

I told Oliver it would be our experiment.  He said, "Ok, we can try it and see and if it doesn't work then put the right stuff on your list."

Like I said- a bust.  All we ended up with was a milky type liquid.  The washing soda gave it a very slippery feel.  They had fun anyway- pouring, stirring and adding color.

So a few days later we had the right ingredients:

Dissolve 1 tsp Borax into 1 cup water.

Combine 4oz All Purpose White Glue with 1/2 c water.  Add color as desired.

Pour the Borax mixture into the glue mixture, stirring immediately.

The liquid very quickly begins to stiffen.  I was under the impression it would become more solid, but it never did.  It created a non-Newtonian fluid which would become semi-solid the more (faster) you manipulated it, but the second you stop it "melts" away.  

It was amazing to watch the boys play with the concoction.  They are usually very hesitant with goopy stuff.  I was so proud, especially of Oliver who tends to be more sensitive to textures and stimulation.

Oliver observed that his hand looked like a bat's wing.

It never became as solid as I thought it would, but I was still able to make it "fart".

With this version of putty we were better able to see what was making the sound than we could with the store bought ones (although those one were easier for the kids).  Bubbles formed more easily as I pushed down on the putty, and I explained to the boys that what they heard was air (gas) being forced out and vibrating against the putty to make a sound.

We made such a mess! 

But it was actually much easier to clean than I would have thought.  I could pick up the spills! I found that funnier than it probably was.