DIY Squishy Recipes - MEL Chemistry

It looks like you are visiting our site from Vietnam. Please switch to our regional site for more relevant pricing, product details, and special offers. Switch to Vietnam Choose another country

1. Articles
2. DIY squishy recipes

DIY squishy recipes

Do you want to make some toys? It’s easy with science!

Share

Tweet

Send

Safe­ty pre­cau­tions

Warn­ing! Only un­der adult su­per­vi­sion.

Equip­ment

• can­dle gel;
• aro­mat­ic dye;
• sand molds;
• cal­ci­um chlo­ride;
• sodi­um al­gi­nate;
• wa­ter;
• food col­or­ing;
• sil­i­cone sealant;
• baby oil;
• sil­i­cone ice mold;
• pro­tec­tive wax spray.

Step-by-step in­struc­tions

Melt some can­dle gel and mix it with aro­mat­ic dye. Pour the mix­ture in a sand mold and let sit for 30 min­utes. It turns into a soft elas­tic toy called a squishy, which keeps its shape per­fect­ly.

Let’s make one more squishy – pre­pare so­lu­tions of sodi­um al­gi­nate and cal­ci­um chlo­ride. Dip the for­mer in the lat­ter – this forms elas­tic toys with liq­uid in­side!

Now mix baby oil with a sil­i­cone sealant. Cov­er a sil­i­cone mold with a pro­tec­tive wax spray. Leave the sil­i­cone mix in the mold for sev­er­al hours. Your new squishy is ready!

Process de­scrip­tion

A squishy is a type of soft, elas­tic toy that stretch­es and con­tracts eas­i­ly and al­ways re­turns to its orig­i­nal shape. These prop­er­ties are con­sid­ered to re­lieve stress. You can eas­i­ly make your own squishies with sci­ence!

Can­dle gel con­tains min­er­al oils and gel­lants, the long mol­e­cules of which tend to curl up, lead­ing to the squishy’s elas­tic struc­ture.

Once dipped in the cal­ci­um chlo­ride, the sodi­um al­gi­nate so­lu­tion is cov­ered with a thick elas­tic film of cal­ci­um al­gi­nate. This seals the liq­uid in­side, re­sult­ing in a soft toy.

Mois­ture in the air forces the sil­i­cone’s com­po­nents to com­bine. This forms long, branchy mol­e­cules. Oil per­me­ates be­tween these mol­e­cules, mak­ing the whole struc­ture more elas­tic.

Play with atoms and mol­e­cules with the MEL Chem­istry sub­scrip­tion!

Share

Tweet

Send

We have more chemistry articles for you:

• Pendulum waves The mesmerizing pendulum effect!
• Fire in a glass Is it possible to obtain flammable gas from a non-flammable salt?

You can do dozens of chemistry experiments at home!

Tin hedgehog Learn more Try it

Dozens of experiments you can do at home

One of the most exciting and ambitious home-chemistry educational projects

The Royal Society of Chemistry

Subscribe Learn more →