Thursday, 10 July 2014

Oooooooobleck



If you've read any of my other posts you might've realised I love everything rainbow - rainbow birthday cake, rainbow smash cake, rainbow rice - so it was a no brainer what type of oobleck I was going to make for Doofy's first gloop experience...

Rainbow oobleck!!


I first saw oobleck on this blog and now we have a blacklight I can't wait to try making it, but I thought I'd start more simple. And if you haven't heard of oobleck (aka gloop) before then simply it is cornflour and water which when mixed together becomes “non-Newtonian” so you can pour it like a liquid but if you apply any pressure then it becomes a solid!

Recipe:
Box of corn flour (500g)
Water
Food gel pastes

I emptied most of the cornflour into a large plastic bowl and mixed in 2 glasses of water. Some very rapid stirring later and I had a bowl of white gunk that was liquid-y when left alone but solid when stirred with a spoon - magic!

I then divided the mix into 5 plastic cups and added a different colour to each. It took a bit of practice to manage to mix all the colour in as the bottom fifth was quite hard to stir but the end result was good. You could use paint instead of food colouring but I wanted it to be edible just in case D decided to do a taste test...


A few of the cups needed a little bit more water added to get the right consistency - I added half a teaspoon at a time as small amounts can make a big difference. You want the gloop to run through your fingers like liquid but to form a solid lump if you squeeze it - the least messy way to test this is to gently stir the mix (should be liquid) and then hit the surface quickly (should be solid).


After this it was time to set up the sensory bin for D. To start with he looked at the colours and gingerly poked at the surface before putting his hand in.


Next he dipped his dinosaur in and out of the gloop and watched as the liquid dripped down. After that it was a bit of a free-for-all with his plastic boats, baby cups and balls all getting thrown in...


He wasn't into getting totally messy but found it very funny when Daddy had his hands covered in multicoloured gloop :) and was fascinated watching the solid balls that Daddy rolled turning into liquid in his hands.



All-in-all a very successful first oobleck experience :) the only thing left to do was clean the animals and mixing forks (in hot soapy water), throw away all the mixing cups (advantage of using disposable ones) and discard the oobleck (NOT down the sink - it will clog the u-bend!!) - if you wait a few hours it hardens by itself and you can then easily scrape it into the bin.


Happy ooblecking!

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