Have you ever heard of such thing as a bouncy ball making kit? Well, I hadn’t!
Galt have come up with a kit that allows children to create their very own bouncy balls from scratch.
I’m not talking bouncy balls made from hundreds of elastic bands, but real bouncy balls!
Little man was quite excited about this kit which is rare as lately he only seems to get excited about anything WWE related (yes his driving me a bit nuts). So, this was a welcomed change and as he wanted me to do this activity with him it gave us a chance to spend some time together.
The Galt Bouncy Balls kit contains 8 10g packs of glow in the dark crystals, 2 ball moulds (one small, one large) and a simplistic how too guide.
So it was decided that I’d have a go at it first to ensure we were doing it right. With this I had a go at the small bouncy ball which only took a few minutes to make. These are really simple. You just fill the moulds with crystals, layering the different colours for an added effect. place in a glass of water for two minutes, remove let stand for a further 2 minutes before removing from the mould, rinsing and leaving to dry.
I wasn’t sure why my ball didn’t come out as a fully formed circle but instead, one with an ever so slightly flat end, but so did little mans. Nonetheless, these did look fab and remarkably, they bounced pretty high too.
Little man really had a lot of fun with this Kit. He loved that he could be really creative without having to put to much work into it. The activity is great for the improvement of his fine motor skills as you need to be careful when tipping the crystals into the mould therefore requiring a little skill not to get mum’s kitchen sides to messy.
I was a little shocked at how much crystals were needed to fill the large bouncy ball mould. By the time we had filled the two mould we were only left with 3 bags out of the 8 supplied. You may get hours of fun playing with your creation but certainly not when creating them as they don’t take long to make and the 3 left over bags wont go that far.
Once we took the balls from their moulds (which was easily done) we noted how sticky they felt. Little man who has Aspergers Syndrome and has many sensory processing difficulties including tactile defensiveness actually really liked the way they felt before being washed and I actually found myself having to beg it off him just to rinse it off.
This is an excellent kit that is both fun yet to a degree quite educational. Children like little man will be interested in the science behind their bouncy ball creations and you may find that they are hungry to learn more about how they went from crystal to ball.
The activity is also very tactile. Its one that is very hands on and great for children who may sensory seek or like to work with their hands. Its great for the development of fine motor skills especially for children with sen and autism as its an activity that doesn’t take to long so holds their attention from start to finish.
The fact the balls glow in the dark is a big added bonus. We hadn’t even realised till we turned the kitchen light off to go to bed. Another great feature that little man really likes.
Galt Bouncy Balls, would make a great little gift or stocking filler though I do wonder if more crystals can be brought (but then again, the set is cheap enough to buy again)!
Galt Bouncy Balls is available from Toys R us Priced at a very reasonable £6.99.
Mummy Of Many Talents 