If you’ve ever wondered how to make oobleck, it’s much easier than you’d ever expect! It’s so much fun for children of all ages and it only requires a little bit of adult support. Oobleck is very similar to slime and playdough, but far easier to clean up and it only requires 3 common ingredients!
In this fun science activity, we’ll teach you how to make oobleck with easy step-by-step instructions. It’s an awesome sensory activity to add to a sensory bin or to teach your little scientists about the properties of matter in a fun way. This is a great science experiment you can conduct at home, school, or really anywhere else since it doesn’t requite any special equipment or tools. How nice is that?
Oobleck is a non-Newtonian fluid made from a mixture of cornstarch and water. As a non-Newtonian substance, it does not follow Newton’s law of viscosity, making it completely different to water. It is a thixotropic fluid that changes its viscosity when the forces and pressure on it change to be either more liquid or more solid.
This sounds pretty technical, but let’s simplify it. Essentially, oobleck moves differently than water. You can create a batch of oobleck, which looks like a liquid, but when you punch it with your hand, it becomes firm.
How to make Oobleck
Easy recipe for Oobleck – a non-Newtonian liquid that kids just love to play with.
Ingredients:
- Heaped cup of Cornflour or cornstarch
- 1/2 cup of water
- Food coloring or glitter if you want!
Instruction:
- Add the cornflour to a bowl.
- If you’re going to add food coloring to the mixture, add it to the water and mix well. Then add the water to the cornflour in the bowl.
- Mix it together using a spoon, spatula, whisk,or even your hands, and
- Believe it or not – that. is. it!
Dr. Seuss’ Oobleck
This NON-EDIBLE recipe is named after the strange material that falls from the sky in Dr. Seuss’ book, Bartholomew and the Oobleck. It’s a really fun recipe to be used as a science experiment of sorts with young children. —-Is it a solid? —- Is it a liquid? **It’s a liquid until pressure is applied. Hit it hard and it feels like you are hitting a wall! Touch it gently and the material will flow around your fingers like water! **Have fun using different utensils to play- see what form it takes while using different cups, spoons, bowls, etc. HAPPY PLAYING!
Prep: 5min
Total: 5min
Yield: 4 cups
Nutrition Facts: calories 243.8, Fat 0, Saturated Fat 0, Cholesterol 0, Sodium 7.5, Carbohydrate 58.4, Fiber 0.6, Sugar 0, Protein 0.2
Ingredients:
- 2 cups cornstarch
- 3 drops food coloring
- 1 cup water
Instruction:
- Mix ingredients together in a medium sized bowl. (Add water slowly as it may not need entire cup!).
How to Make Oobleck
Part art + part science, this fun stuff is also known as goop or sensory goop.
Prep: 5min
Total: 10min
Ingredients:
- 1 1/2 to 2 cups cornstarch
- 1 cup water
- Food coloring
- a large plastic bin (to contain the oobleck while you play)
Instruction:
- Whisk the food coloring into the water so that it colors the oobleck evenly.
- Then stir in the cornstarch. Start with 1.5 cups and add more if it is too runny.
