photo: jetheriot
1. Pinch each side of a blob of Silly Putty with a thumb and an index finger and slowly pull your hands apart. The Silly Putty will stretch like warm taffy. As you pull the two halves of the blob away from each other, try to keep the strand connecting them from drooping. To do this you have to accelerate the outward movement of your hands as the strand thins. Otherwise the thinning strand droops. When your hands are as far apart as your outstretched arms will allow, the strand becomes longer than your wingspan and as fine as spun sugar. Put the two halves of the blob back together, winding the wisps of Silly Putty around it, then pull the blob apart again.
2. Grind some Silly Putty into your open palm, pressing the blob flat with a thumb. Pry the smashed Silly Putty carefully from your palm and examine your thumbprints with a magnifying glass.
3. Silly Putty stretches without breaking when pulled slowly, but snaps into two pieces when twisted abruptly. It takes some practice, but if you form a blob of Silly Putty into the right shape (as peanut-like as possible) and twist it quickly and cleanly, you can break the blob in half.
4. Roll it into a ball and bounce it on the floor.