Last night for our youth activity we played glow in the dark volleyball. I have to tell you I spent more than a few sleepless nights trying to figure out how to make a ball glow in the dark. First I bought some expensive black lights hoping that would do the trick, nope, the glow didn't extend far enough to light up the ball. Hmmmm...then someone suggested putting glow sticks inside a blow up beach ball, that was a great idea except where would I find a beach ball in October! I looked, believe me. Then it came to me, I would try injecting some of the "glow" liquid into a ball, it worked and here's how you can do it too.
You'll need:
-Paper towels
-scissors
-disposable cup
-2-3 glow sticks (I used the bigger Slim Stick because it held more liquid)
-syringe with heavy gauge needle (vet tac supply store)
-kids ball
Break the glow stick a few times to activate it, shake, shake, shake.
Tap the end of the glow stick on the counter to get the liquid away from the top, cut the tube above the liquid (so it doesn't squirt on you). Empty it into your disposable cup by tapping it on the side until it's all out. There are two separate liquids inside the plastic tube, when you bend the tube you are breaking the glass to allow the two to mix.
Use your syringe to draw up the liquid. (See the broken glass a the bottom, just leave it there)
There it is, cool huh!
Find the nipple of the ball.
Inject the liquid directly into the tiny hole in the nipple. Squirt! (when it's time, dispose of your syringe and needle properly) Wipe off the area if you need to.
Now bounce it around a few times to help coat the inside of the ball.
This is where I show you how it looks...I couldn't take a picture of the ball glowing!
Believe me though, it glows, just take it into a dark room to see.
We hung the glow bracelets all along the top edge of the volleyball net and gave all the players one for each wrist. The effect of the bracelets hanging off the net and the glowing ball was fabulous!
*Prepare the ball just before you play, so the glow lasts longer, you'll want to have supplies to re glow the ball during the game. Ours lasted less than an hour but it was easy to prepare another ball for play.
We had a lot of fun, the kids were excited and that's what's it's all about!
Now a word about the safety of glow bracelets. They aren't poisonous but they are an irritant so don't lick the glow liquid off your hands, instead you should wash your hands after you prepare the ball. Sorry, I had to do that, it's like the warning on a blow dryer not to use it while you're in the bathtub!!
By the way, I love the ball you sent me!
ReplyDeleteoh my gosh. My group of young women where just asking about doing this and I was trying to figure out the logistics of it all. Thanks so much!!
ReplyDeleteWere do u get the syringe
ReplyDeleteUse a flavor injector syringe.
DeleteThank you so much for this post! We are supposed to do this in 2 weeks and thought the black lights would work. Glad to know they won't and there is an easy solution. Thanks again!
ReplyDeleteAh! My friends recently put up a volleyball net in their yard. We have bonfires and drinks over there and were trying to figure out how to make a glowing volleyball too! I wish a real volleyball wasnt so thick so it'd work with this, but maybe we'll still do this for fun at night.
ReplyDeleteThank you for this wonderful blog. I read you article and I like that you share that how to glow volley ball in dark. I will defiantly try to do it.
ReplyDeleteglow in the dark golf balls
How many slim sticks did you use at once to light the ball?
ReplyDeletewhere did you get the ball?
ReplyDeletewhere did you get the ball????
ReplyDeleteAlso you can use Rust-O -Leamington glow in the dark spray paint. It works well if you spray a white Volley ball several times allowing it to dry in between coats, we put 10 coats on ours. Let it set in the yard in the sun and it last about 3 hours. I used it on flower pots and a walk for my home.
ReplyDeleteThank you. So good to know!
DeleteCan you refill the same ball?
ReplyDeleteOur youth group is going to play glow in the dark volleyball next week and I've been stewing too. I bought a bright yellow volleyball on Amazon but unfortunately it doesn't glow. I see Walmart has a glow in the dark volleyball on their website but I had already bought a large bouncy ball for $3 and wrote on it with yellow highlighter.Highlighter doesn't dry on rubber:( but did on the different texture strip on the ball. My black light bulb doesn't do anything but my strand of Walmart blue rope lights works awesome! I bought 100 10" yellow glow sticks on Amazon for j11.99 with the intention of giving each person 2 to connect and put around neck. (All yellow cuz some colors don't light up good.) We told the kids to wear short sleeved white or neon shirt so we can use a yellow highlighter down their arms (to help avoid accidents). Does anyone have more tips?? We are doing it in a gym.
ReplyDeleteHey there, if i put glow in the dark slime into a balloon. will the balloon glow?
ReplyDeleteOne interesting recent addition to volleyball rules, if you and your friends want to keep your game of volleyball on the cutting edge, is the "libero." volleyball rules definition
ReplyDelete