How to Make Spitballs

Co-authored by wikiHow Staff

Last Updated: February 13, 2023

Spitballs are a great way to play fun pranks on your friends or use as target practice (not to exact revenge or cause embarrassment to someone else).They’re cheap and easy to make. Next time you’re bored, start up a game of spitball tag and show your friends who the spitball master is.

Things You Should Know

Rip up a small piece of paper, get it wet with your saliva, and squish it up to make a spitball.
For multi-layer spitballs, follow the same process but then, wrap your spitball in another small piece of paper before wetting it in your mouth, too.
To launch a spitball, spit, flick, or blow it at your target with a straw.

Part 1

Part 1 of 3:

Making Single-Layered Spitballs

1
Rip the paper up into small pieces. They don’t have to be an exact size, just guess. Keep ripping until you’ve torn up the entire sheet of paper.
2
Roll the piece of paper into a ball. Roll the paper into a ball by grabbing it between the thumb, index finger, and middle finger of both hands. Push all your fingers together with the paper in the middle. Keep doing that until the piece of paper is a small ball.

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3
Put the paper ball in your mouth. If you don’t have much spit in your mouth, now is a good time to take a drink. You want to make sure you have enough spit to soak your spitball completely. Sometimes it helps to chew on it a little to make sure the spit covers the whole thing.^{[1]
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4
Get ready to launch. Now that you’ve soaked your spitball, you can launch it with your weapon of choice.
- If you’re spitting it from your mouth or blowing it through a straw you don’t need to remove it from your mouth. Just launch.
- If your weapon is to throw it, take it out of your mouth first. Once you’ve soaked your spitball with spit, you can take it out of your mouth and launch.

Part 2

Part 2 of 3:

Making Multi-Layered Spitballs

1
Tear two pieces of paper into smaller squares. Your smaller pieces don’t have to be an exact size, but keep in mind you’ll be putting more than one layer onto your spitballs so make two sizes (one large enough to fit over a smaller ball).
2
Roll your smaller pieces into little balls. To do this, grab the paper between your thumb, index finger, and middle finger. Squeeze your fingers together with the paper in the middle. Keep doing that until the piece of paper is a small ball.
3
Take a drink. You want to make sure you have enough spit in your mouth to soak your spitball. Take a drink to wet your mouth.
4
Put the paper ball in your mouth. Move the spitball around in your mouth to make sure it’s covered in spit. It can help to chew on it a little to make sure spit gets onto the whole thing.
5
Take the spitball out of your mouth. Once your spitball is completely covered in spit you can take it out of your mouth.
6
Grab another piece of paper and wrap it around your spitball. Make sure you grab one of the larger pieces you ripped from your two pieces of paper. Wrap it around your soaked spitball. Push down with your fingers until the spitball becomes a larger ball.
7
Take another drink. You need to have a lot of saliva ready to soak that spitball all the way through. Take a big drink, swish it around in your mouth, and swallow.
8
Put the new spitball back into your mouth. Now that you have enough saliva to wet your new layer, put the larger spitball back in your mouth and keep it in there long enough to soak the entire thing.
9
Take it out of your mouth. Once you’ve soaked your spitball, take it out of your mouth and get ready to either throw it with your fingers, or flick it with your fingers or a ruler. It should be big enough to fly pretty far.

Part 3

Part 3 of 3:

Launching Your Spitballs

1
Throw it with your fingers. This method works with either single-layered or multi-layered spitballs. Multi-layered spitballs will usually travel farther.
- Put the spitball between your thumb and middle finger, pull your arm back, aim, and throw.
2
Spit it out of your mouth. This method works best with single-layered spitballs because they’re easier to spit out. Place the spitball between your lips, take in a deep breath, and blow as hard as you can. The spitball should pop out from between your lips, straight at your target.
- You might need to be standing close to your target for this launching method to work.
3
Blow it through a straw. This is another method that works best with single-layered spitballs because they fit better in a straw. You can also use a pen for this method.^{[2]
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- Put your spitball inside of a straw, pushing it in as far as you can.
- Take a deep breath and put your mouth on the straw so no air can get in.
- Blow as hard as you can.
- Your spitball should pop out of the other side of the straw, right at your target.
4
Flick it with your fingers, or a ruler. This method works best with multi-layered spitballs because you get more velocity.
- Curl your middle finger into your thumb to form a circle, so that the nail of your finger is touching your thumb. Press them together so there is tension between your fingers.
- Put the spitball in the spot where your middle finger meets your thumb. Right between them, on the outside of your middle finger.
- Push your middle finger out, away from your thumb. This should make the spitball fling up and out, toward your target.

Community Q&A

Question

Will the spitballs stick to the target?

Community Answer

It depends on how hard you launch them.
Question

Can I get in trouble if I do it in school?

Community Answer

Yes, you can. Spitballs can be disruptive and make a mess so you could get a detention, suspension or other punishment, depending on your typical behavior.
Question

Could I use any other objects for the same purpose?

Community Answer

Yes, but it must be thin and flexible, like paper. You can use newspaper and magazine clippings.

Warnings

Don't make spitballs to be a bully.

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If you don’t shoot your spitball soon after you make it, it will dry up and harden.

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Don’t shoot your spitballs at close range, or cause harm to anyone.

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