How to Make a Rubber Band Ball

Making a Rubber Band Ball

Create a core. You can start with any small object, such as a marble or golf ball. A "true" rubber band ball, however, includes no other materials. Here's how to get it started: Select a short, thick rubber band, such as a band used to secure vegetables. Fold this rubber band in half, then in half again, then a third time if possible. Do not twist it; you should end up with a flat "stack" of rubber. While pinching the thick band flat, wrap a thinner rubber band around it. Twist the slack of the thinner band and wrap it over the thick one in the other direction. Continue to twist and wrap until there is no more slack in the thin band.

Wrap rubber bands around the core. Start with two rubber bands placed in a criss-cross shape over the core. Make sure they're tightly secured. You may have to twist and wrap them around the core a few times. Start with the smallest bands first, since they won't be useful once your ball passes a certain size.

Add more rubber bands until the ball is smooth. Keep wrapping rubber bands so that you form a ball. Space the rubber bands evenly so that no one side of the ball is larger than any other. A ball without an object in the core will start out lumpy, but it should become smooth by the time it reaches the size of a golf ball.

Test the ball. Toss it in the air, or bounce it against the wall. Your new rubber band ball should have plenty of spring. Enjoy it as is, or keep adding more rubber bands and watch it grow. Get it to the size of a tennis ball for the best bounce.

Rubber Band Ball Challenges

Find all your rubber bands for free. Since rubber band balls are all about the challenge anyway, why not make it a little harder? Try expanding your ball without paying for any rubber bands. Here are a few places to look for them: Ask friends and neighbors for spares. Ask postal workers, newspaper delivery people, and other door-to-door delivery workers. Look in shoe stores, which may use rubber bands to hold the shoe boxes closed.

Make a ball without twisting any rubber bands. If you don't twist the rubber bands, they lie flat against each other, with no room for air. This makes the densest, bounciest ball. The trick to this is finding each new rubber band exactly the right size, so there's no slack when you loop it around the ball once.

Make it massive. Rubber band balls are extremely dense, so after a certain point they'll be too heavy to bounce without breaking something. After that, the challenge is to make it as large as possible. You can even beat the world record, if you can find 700,000 rubber bands. Once the ball is about the size of a basketball, wear safety goggles. Plenty of rubber bands will snap after this point, and you don't want them hitting your eyes. Rubber bands decay over time. To stop it shrinking or breaking apart, your project will need regular reinforcement.

Cut your old ball in half. Once you have a basketball-sized rubber band ball, it will probably sit there in the corner of your room, getting greyer and more frayed. Want to get one final moment of fun? Saw it in half and watch the insides emerge on their own, like a bizarre colony of worms. If that description didn't turn you off the hobby forever, get out there and start creating!