Try making oobleck today! This super simple oobleck recipe only requires two inexpensive ingredients and is very easy to make. It’s nontoxic and made of natural materials! Add some rocks to your oobleck and you have a fun sensory activity that will keep kids busy for a VERY long time.
Have you ever heard of oobleck?! It’s a substance called a non-Newtonian fluid and can mimic the qualities of a solid or a liquid. I know that sounds crazy, but it’s true! Oobleck is simply a mixture of cornstarch and water. It can feel like a solid when you ball it in your hands, but it liquifies when you let your hand go loose. It takes the shape of whatever is holding it!
I LOVE making oobleck on those days when we are trapped indoors due to bad weather. It’s the perfect screen free activity that keeps kids entertained for at least an hour! If we didn’t have plans to leave the house, my boys would have been playing with it for much longer!
Are you ready to make a batch of oobleck?
Here’s what you’ll need..
Supplies:
- Corn starch– This is the exact brand we used
- Water
- Food coloring (optional)
- Pan, bowl, or any larger container to hold the oobleck
- Newspaper or something to cover your play surface
- Rocks
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RELATED: Check out Icy Flower Sensory Play!
Here’s How We Made It:
Step 1: (ONLY STEP!)
Mix your cornstarch and water. We used a larger bowl for pouring and mixing. Now roll up your sleeves and start mixing together the two ingredients. A spoon doesn’t work very well, so it’s time to get a little messy!
You can add food coloring at this point, but I decided not to because the colorful rocks look so pretty against the white oobleck! I might try it next time to mix things up a bit.
I started by mixing 1.5 cups cornstarch with 1 cup of water. From here we added a little more cornstarch to make it just the right consistency for us. You can’t really mess up this recipe. If it feels too thick, add water and if it feels too runny, add more cornstarch.
Now I set up our play area. I placed the bowl on a tray. Next time, I will add newspaper underneath because this was a little messier than I anticipated. I’ll share more later, BUT I should say the clean up is pretty easy.
My boys could hardly contain their excitement and starting experimenting right away!
After they played with the oobleck for a while, they started dropping the rocks into the oobleck. The rocks looked so cool as they sl-o-wly sunk into the mysterious mixture!
*No rocks were harmed in this activity. The oobleck rinses right off!*
You can really see the slow progression between these two photos! This was so mesmerizing to watch.
Then they started digging for the rocks! It was kind of difficult to tell the difference between the solid clumps of corn starch and the actual rocks. We were tricked a few times, only to have a ball of oobleck melt in our hands.
At this point, it was time to clean up and unfortunately I had to tear the boys away from the fun.
The area was looking pretty messy and we even got some oobleck on the carpeting! After a quick google search, I learned that the easiest way to vacuum and clean up oobleck is to let it dry. I let the oobleck sit on the carpet for an hour and it came right out! Also, you can let the oobleck dry in your play area and bowl and its much easier to wipe off the surface and get out of the bowl.
Don’t let the mess scare you, HAVE FUN!
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I hope you give this oobleck recipe a try! I promise, your little nature lovers will love it as much as my boys.
∼Tara
