Oh, the places you will go…making oobleck to celebrate Dr. Seuss’s Birthday and for just plain FUN anytime. Kids will love this goo that acts as a solid and a liquid.
If your kids love gooey fun you will want to try these best slime recipes. I show you exactly how to make slime.
Oobleck
This stuff is amazing. My boys (okay and me too) were totally taken with this goo. Oobleck defies Newton’s third law of motion–for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. It is a science lesson that is a lot of fun! If you quickly smack it with your hand it immediately turns into a solid, instead of splashing or moving. If you slowly move it with your hands it reacts like a liquid. Cool!
How to make Oobleck
If you are wondering how to make oobleck it is SUPER easy. You only need two ingredients (three if you want it colored). Such a simple recipe for so much fun.
Needless to say, our oobleck took a lot of fist smacking! Our kitchen was filled with lots of “Wow,” “Cool,” wide eyes of amazement and much laughter!”
Everybody had a handful (or two) of fun, and we even had some great conversation about science. “Is the oobleck solid? Is it a liquid? Is it a solid-liquid?”
Whipping up a batch of this stuff is a great way to learn while having lots of fun! Please read the comments on this post for the scientific explanation of what is happening.
What is Oobleck made out of?
Oobleck is made of:
- cornstarch
- water
- food coloring
It couldn’t be any easier to make this science experiment you only need cornstarch and water. We made ours with 2 cups of cornstarch and 1 cup water. You can make your Newtonian fluid (or is oobleck a non newtonian fluid you can decide for yourself after reading all of the comments) any color you like, just add food coloring. Can you make oobleck with flour instead of cornstarch? No. Instead of turning into oobleck, flour mixed with water makes a dough.
Oobleck Recipe
You will find this oobleck recipe is mesmerizing and will keep kids engaged for a long time. When they slowly grab a handful of the green substance it will ooze through their fingers and then they will notice by quickly applying pressure to the mixture it feels solid.
Another big bonus is oobleck gets kids interested in Science and how things work.
Oobleck Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 cups cornstarch
- 1 cup water
- food coloring optional
Instructions
- To make your own oobleck mix 2 cups of cornstarch and 1 cup water in a bowl. If you want to color your oobleck like we did, add a few drops of food coloring to the water before adding to the cornstarch. It took some effort to mix the water and cornstarch. Try it out (hit it with your fist and pour it off a spoon to see if it works) before you give into the urge to add more water to make it easier to mix. We played with our science experiment all afternoon, and when the kids weren't playing with it I covered it with plastic wrap.
Notes
Be sure to read about oobleck with Dr. Seuss book Bartholomew and the Oobleck! You might also like these inspirational Dr. Seuss Quotes.
Too Cool! Really, you must give it a try! After your kids are done with this science project get them hooked on slime and kinetic sand (moon sand)? Slime or Gak is another fun goo your kids will love. See how we make super safe slime, two-ingredient slime safe slime and don’t miss all these amazing slime recipes (who has ever heard of magnetic slime!)
Remember after playing with oobleck, slime or kinetic sand washing hands is a must!
Celebrate Dr. Seuss Birthday
How do you celebrate Dr. Seuss Birthday? Do you start the day off with green eggs and ham? Do you read your favorite Dr. Seuss book–or is it just too hard to choose only ONE favorite book?!? Here are some great ideas from our readers:
- “Oobleck is only one of the names for this crazy stuff. When I taught Preschool, I would make this with my class again and again. We called it MAGIC MUD. I would send the recipe home so that the parents could make it and the best part was that if it got on the carpet or clothes, you just let it dry completely and then sweep/vacuum or throw in the washer. I also used this with the very little ones ( 1-2 yr olds) since it was safe for them to put in their mouths.
- It is also called QUICKSAND and all you do is make it a tad thinner and then do a lesson around how quicksand works in real life.” ~Robbin
- “I read “Bartholomew and the Oobleck” and brought it to my son’s 2nd-grade class. I do every year on Dr. Seuss day. It never gets old, the kids LOVE it. ~Laura
- “I make this with my students every year for our final solids/liquids unit lesson.
Try mixing it in a heavy-duty Ziploc bag – it is easy to “smoosh” the bag, rather than mix the oobleck with a spoon. Also, add the water to the cornstarch slowly – if you go overboard, you will have a watery mess, rather than Oobleck!” ~MichelleRemember after playing with oobleck, slime, and kinetic sand
Be sure to let me know what you think! I hope you keep coming back for more fun things to do with kids! If gooey slimy things are what your kids like you will want to show them how to make slime after making oobleck.
I loved the physics discussion I found here while perusing crafts! I just took an introductory university physics class (at 35 years old), and reading “Oobleck defies Newton’s third law of motion” certainly piqued my interest.
Kudos to everyone who posted to clear things up! I think this stuff is awesome and I think this experiment absolutely benefits from the Wikipedia link regarding non-newtonian fluids that Jen posted.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-Newtonian_fluid
Ann, Jen, Brian, let’s clear up all this fluid dynamics fun!
First of all, not many phenomena we can observe deviate from Newton’s laws, but it does happen in some of those spooky realms of physics (just ask Einstein). Secondly, as Jen so kindly pointed out, oobleck is certainly a non-Newtonian fluid, so it doesn’t behave in the way we traditionally anticipate fluids to behave. However, to correct Brian’s comment (sorry Brian, no disrespect intended), Newtonian fluids, such as water, do not change their viscosity when you “hit them.” Well it could be said that they do change, but the change is so insignificant it would be extraordinarily difficult to measure. Oobleck, on the other hand reacts quite differently to a sudden force because it is what is known as a dilatant or “shear-thickening” fluid. In fluids like this, the viscosity DOES change when you apply a sudden force, and in fact it increases with the amount of shear stress applied. So, when you give that jiggling bowl of slime a good slap, the viscosity increases so much that it reacts similarly to a solid.
I hope this helped shed some light on the earlier points of debate so we can all get back to playing with green slime!
Cheers.
to ann harter This fluid indeed does not follow newtons laws of motion this is why it is called a non-Newtonian fluid. These fluids do not change there viscosity when force is applied unlike most other liquids. This is because it is made out of a liquid and a solid. The cornstarch has big molecules that are usually tightly packed together making it a solid, but when you add the small water molecules to the mix they get stuck in between allowing the fluid to flow when not applying pressure. although when applying pressure the smaller molecules go to the surface temporarily and the cornstarch molecules get slammed against each other making them hard. Your example of water is not a nonnewtonian fluid because of the change in its viscosity when you hit it although it does hurt when quickly slapped because of the cohesion in the water molecules but it is not the same as in oobleck because it only happens when you hit it quickly yet you sink rite after but in oobleck you can push all you want and you can never squish threw it
Ann’s totally right to encourage a bit of learning.
If you’re gonna do this, go read this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-Newtonian_fluid
Take it in, simplify it, teach your kids. The more a kid learns the easier and more interesting learning becomes to them. Science doesn’t have to kill the fun and boosting kids’ brains a bit can give them a real advantage in life, so why not do so when you can?
Also, cool post! Even if it is nearly six years old; I arrived here on Stumbleupon.
I am with you ladies! Ann was way off base and there was no need for her “corrections” to this fun experiment. The most important thing is to keep young minds active and this is what this experiment does. FUN!
Yeah I’m totally with Robin & Erin… Who cares about physics or truth? Darn smart people ruining all the fun (sarcasm)
I have to agree with Erin. Obviously, Ann had to post her comment to “correct” the poster, then think about it even more so that she could come back to the site and make another corrective comment an hour and a half later. Wow, bet that makes you feel really smart, huh Ann?
However, I had to give this a try and I loved it! Thanks for posting. Great idea, whether it defies Newton’s third law, or not. lol
Looks like fun… On the “seriously?” side of things, it’s a shame people so often feel the need to criticize others. Furthermore, I am amused by someone who has nothing better to do than try to make other people feel stupid. (I’m looking at you, Ann Hartter.)
Furthermore, if anything defied a law of physics, it wouldn’t be a law.
On the physics side of things, it is a high viscosity liquid. It doesn’t defy the third law at all. If you belly flop on water, it’s similar to striking the cornstarch fluid: for a moment the water is as hard as concrete.
Your post is great and gets lot of traffic. You should be careful the accuracy of the statements in your posts.
This has nothing to do with motion it is force applied to a non-newtonain fluid. Applying force to ooblec kmakes the non-Newtonian fluid thicken. Home science is amazing and fun but only when the facts are taught as well.
Super neat! Pin’d ya!
This is a lot of fun ~ messy, yet clean.
We discovered that when it is left to dry, the pieces crumble like the floor of a dried river bed ~ but then just add water and it is back to being “magic mud” (love that term! Thank you Robbin)
You can certainly see your skills within the work you write. The arena hopes for more passionate writers such as you who are not afraid to say how they believe. All the time go after your heart.
Gak!!! always a summer camp favorite 🙂