Oobleck, the stuff kids dream about – getting messy. The name sounds fun, doesn't it? I wrote earlier about Playdough, which is great, but Oobleck takes the cake. This substance is only made with 2 ingredients: water and cornstarch. Cornstarch is used in recipes to thicken sauces, but in Oobleck, it just never seems to make up it's mind what it should do. Is it a liquid or a solid?
Recipe for Oobleck:
- 1 1/2 cups cornstarch
- 1 cup water
- Optional: 2-3 drops of green food coloring (for an extra slimy mix)
Pour, mix slightly, and have fun!
You can pick it up, squeeze it, and it forms a ball in your hand. But let the ball lay in your hand and it turns back to liquid. When you look into the bowl, it looks like white milk. Then punch your hand into the bowl and it is hard and solid. I love this stuff.
In a preschool class I worked at, I used this Oobleck recipe many times. I do recommend that it be played outside, as the oobleck gets all over, and have a wet rag or water bucket near by for clean up. Get a large bucket or tub, take it outside, get the kids ready with aprons or old t-shirts, fill the tub up with oobleck, (recipe will need to be multiplied to fill a large tub) and let them go. They can play in this stuff for hours. Have fun getting Ooey and Gooey with Oobleck!
Marie, who loves to get messy, is the editor of Blissful Kids. You can see more crafty goodness at her blog, Make and Takes.
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I love this stuff! It's also very fun to use in a relay race – have the kids scoop up a handful before running. Be sure to have the camera ready (the "hand-off" is particularly funny)
And if you want to throw around a big word, this is technically a "Non-Newtonian fluid." Mythbusters has done some pretty cool stuff with it on their show (Did you know that if you fill a tank with it, you can actually walk across it?)
Too funny! We did this today as well! My kids loved it! I put buttons in it for the kids to try to find.