We have had so much fun the last few months experimenting with oobleck. John helped me film this video towards the end of the summer, but the messy science didn’t stop then. In fact, I did a “spooky science” center with his 5th grade class on Halloween and EVERY kid loved it!
All you need to do this at home is water and corn starch. For the science centers, I also brought in food coloring, bows, spoons and zip top bags so they could carry their oobleck home.
So, what’s so cool about it? Oobleck is a non-newtonian fluid. It acts like liquid when being poured but a solid when force is acting on it! Grab it and form it into a ball. Then let it rest and it will ooze out of your hands. Jab it with a pencil and see how hard it is. Then slowly touch your pencil to it and it slides right in.
Directions: (I reduced the quantity of ingredients at school, starting with 1/3 cup water and slowly adding corn starch)
- Add ½ cup water to your bowl
- Add 1.5 cups corn starch to the bowl and stir using the spoon or your hands
- Add a few drops of food coloring
- Slowly add up to 1 cup more water. Do just a little at a time and mix. The goal is to get a consistency that is liquid yet solid!
Enjoy!!!!
DIXIE DELIGHTS DELIVERED
This experiment is the most fun! My 8th grader just did this in his physical science class and it’s still a hit!
My students love to do this every Family Science Night. This year our FSN had a SPOOKtacular Halloween theme, so we added pumpkin and cinnamon and also some plastic spiders and roaches for a ghoulish look. Of course, they LOVE it! I love when kids appreciate science.