• Home
  • Start here
  • Curious about…?
    • Curious about me?
    • Curious about Gift of Curiosity?
    • How to download printables
    • Disclosures & Privacy
    • Copyright
  • Contact
    • Contact me
    • Get the GOC button
  • Cart

Gift of Curiosity

Sparking children's creativity and learning

Don't miss out!

  • Printables
  • Activities
    • Arts and crafts
    • Colors
    • Fine motor
    • Literacy
    • Math
    • Montessori
    • Science
    • Sensory play
    • Shapes
  • Holidays
    • Gift Guides
    • Chinese New Year
    • Valentine’s Day
    • St. Patrick’s Day
    • Earth Day
    • Easter
    • 4th of July
    • Halloween
    • Thanksgiving
    • Christmas
  • Thematic units
    • Ants
    • Apples
    • Bees
    • Botany
    • Corn
    • Farm
    • Five Senses
    • Geography
    • Human Body
    • Insects
    • Leaves
    • Ocean
    • Pirates
    • Polar animals and lands
    • Seasons: Winter
    • Seasons: Spring
    • Seasons: Summer
    • Seasons: Fall
    • Seeds
    • Space
    • States of matter
    • Weather
    • Zoology
  • Age
    • Ages 2-3
    • Ages 3-4
    • Ages 4-6
    • Ages 6-8
    • Ages 8-10
  • Book lists

Fun with oobleck {sensory play}

May 9, 2013 by Katie 8 Comments

This post may contain affiliate ads at no cost to you. See my disclosures for more information.

Sharing is caring - thank you for spreading the word!

155shares
  • Share 9
  • Twitter
  • Email

We always enjoy some messy, sensory play at our house, and this activity was no exception. Oobleck is such a fun substance because it acts like both a liquid and a solid at the same time. If you push it hard, it acts like a solid. But if you just hold it in your hands, it will melt right through your fingers. These properties make oobleck both fun and educational to play with!

Fun with oobleck >> Gift of Curiosity

While the kids were napping one day, I made two containers of oobleck by mixing together the following ingredients:

  • 1 part water
  • 1.5 to 2 parts cornstarch
  • Small amount of food coloring (optional)

Once my oobleck was ready, I put together the following materials as part of an invitation to play:

  • funnels
  • metal scoops
  • a set of measuring spoons
  • some tiny cups
  • small bowls

Fun with oobleck >> Gift of Curiosity

When XGirl first saw the oobleck, she was a bit wary, and only wanted to dip one finger in to check it out.

Fun with oobleck >> Gift of Curiosity

But then she decided to start scooping it into her funnel. This was interesting to watch, because the sort-of-a-liquid, sort-of-a-solid quality of oobleck makes it difficult to scoop up. But it still drips through the funnel.

Fun with oobleck >> Gift of Curiosity

She also used the measuring spoons to drip it into her bowl. Again, it was a bit challenging to scoop into the spoon, but then dripped into the bowl fairly easily.

Fun with oobleck >> Gift of Curiosity

QBoy used his metal scoops to pour it into his measuring spoon.

Fun with oobleck >> Gift of Curiosity

But then he, too, wanted to play with the funnel.

Fun with oobleck >> Gift of Curiosity

Eventually he decided to pour the oobleck from the bowl through the funnel into his tiny cups.

Fun with oobleck >> Gift of Curiosity

Oobleck looks like it makes a mess on hands, but it actually comes off very easily.

Fun with oobleck >> Gift of Curiosity

And this was another successful afternoon of messy, sensory play. 🙂

More sensory play resources

For more activities that will delight the senses, see my Sensory Play page and my Sensory Play Pinterest board. 

Follow Katie @ Gift of Curiosity’s board Sensory Play on Pinterest.

Products mentioned in this post:

Don't miss out!

8 Comments

Comments

  1. Julie says

    May 14, 2013 at 11:34 am

    They look so focused. My kids loved this type of craft too. Now my son loves digging in the dirt – metal detecting and gardening.

    Reply
  2. Pinkoddy says

    May 14, 2013 at 11:39 am

    That looks great fun – thanks for sharing how you make it. My son is a sensory seeker so just going to love this.

    Thanks for linking up with Motivational Monday

    Reply
  3. Sarah says

    May 14, 2013 at 5:47 pm

    Love the mess. Looks so fun if I could convince L to do it but simple enough to try either way! Good for you.

    Reply
  4. Carrie says

    May 17, 2013 at 4:24 pm

    So fun!! Thank you for sharing at Sharing Saturday!

    Reply
  5. Rebecca from Here Come the Girls says

    May 19, 2013 at 1:54 am

    Mine love ooblek too. Such fun!

    Thanks for joining in The Sunday Showcase. I’ve pinned to our board.

    Reply
  6. Monica says

    May 21, 2013 at 2:42 pm

    My boys would love this! Thanks for linking up at Family Fun Friday.
    Sincerely,
    Monica

    Reply
  7. Katherine Berry says

    January 4, 2014 at 9:50 am

    Over in the united Kingdom we call this Gloop and we use cornflour, I have used a large shallow tray and used different tools to draw patterns and then watch it turn back to a liquid form, so much fun.

    Reply
    • Katie says

      January 4, 2014 at 12:11 pm

      Oh yes, I’ve heard oobleck called by many other names, including gloop! And I think cornflour and corn starch are the same thing – one is the UK version and one is the US version. Just one of *many* words that are different between our two versions of English! And I say this having lived in England for a year when I was younger. 🙂

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Spread the word!

Gift of Curiosity
<a href="https://www.giftofcuriosity.com" target="_blank"><img src="https://www.giftofcuriosity.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/GOC_button_200.png" alt="Gift of Curiosity" width="210" height="60" /></a>

Archives

Privacy

Still Curious?

Find me on:

* Facebook

* Pinterest

* Instagram

* Or contact me by email.

Copyright Info

All text, images, logos, tag lines, etc. found at Gift of Curiosity are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. See my copyright page for more information.

Copyright © 2021 Gift of Curiosity

Copyright © 2021 · Gift of Curiosity on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in