DIY squishy recipes

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!