Silly String is a child's toy, generically known as aerosol string: a flexible, brightly-colored plastic string, which is shot as a stream of liquid from an aerosol can. The string sets quickly in mid-air, allowing one to shoot a continuous strand of it. Silly String is popular for usage during weddings, birthday parties, school carnivals and other festive occasions.

The material is a polymer-based resin which was originally propelled by the chlorofluorocarbon Freon-12, which is one of a group of compounds implicated in the depletion of the ozone layer. Within a year after Silly String was introduced, the US banned Freon 11 and 12 because they allegedly harmed the ozone layer. The formulation was immediately switched by Wham-O and others to Freon formulations which were allowed.

Silly String was invented by Leonard A. Fish and Robert P. Cox.

Mr. Cox died in February, 2008. A patent was issued to them in 1972 as a United States Patent for a "foamable resinous composition".

It is polymer-based, likely 11-16% polyisobutyl-methacrylate and 0.5 to 4% sorbitan trioleate dissolved in a CFC-based solvent (e.g. dichlorodifluoromethane aka Freon-12) that evaporates in the air and acts as a foaming agent. The pressure in the can propels the mixture a short distance of up to 20 feet. Some other alleged ingredients are a small amount of isopropyl alcohol, and plasticizers like dibutyl phthalate.

Silly String was licensed to and was produced by Wham-O, in a range of colors, until the rights were sold to the Car-Freshner Corporation, the maker of Little Trees, in 1997. The U.S. Patent #3705669 includes a clear description of preferred implementations.

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