Directions For Oobleck
Perhaps it's a cold, dreary day and the kids are bored with nothing to do. You can excite them -- and explore science at the same time -- by making "Oobleck" using ingredients right out of your kitchen cupboard. Oobleck helps kids explore properties of liquids, solutions and solids by creating a colloid, or a mixture of two or more substances which appears solid, but is not. To further the experiment, and the fun, add different substances to help children understand scientific properties of solutions.
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Things You'll Need
- Newspapers
- Measuring spoons and cups
- Small cups, bowls or small zip-close storage bags
- 1 ½ cup corn starch for each participant
- 1 cup water for each participant
- Wooden sticks or spoons for stirring
- Food coloring (optional)
- Flour (optional)
- Powdered sugar (optional)
- Baking powder (optional)
Instructions
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Lay out newspaper to protect your work surface because making Oobleck can be messy. Give each child something to measure ingredients into, such as a paper cup or small bowl, and something to stir with, like a wooden stick. To cut down the mess, use zip-close bags instead. You will not need stirring sticks if you choose this method.
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Show each child how to measure 1 ½ cups of cornstarch into a container. Encourage the children to explore the cornstarch and to describe the plain cornstarch -- what does it feel, smell and look like.
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3
Help each child measure 1 cup of water and slowly add it to the cornstarch while stirring. Let the students explore the colloid with a spoon or wooden stick and with their fingers. Ask them to describe what happens to the mixture when they touch or smack it. What happens if they put it on the newspaper or try to pick it up? Can they make it into something like a ball or a line? Ask what they could make out of Oobleck.
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4
Add food coloring to the mixture and ask the children to describe the changes to the solution. Explain what a colloid is and the science of Oobleck. Ask the children if they can think of any other colloids. Quicksand and gelatin, for example, are both colloids.
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Ask the children to guess (make hypotheses) about the reactions of different substances, such as powdered sugar and flour. Help the kids experiment to see if they get the same or a different effect with other substances. David Crowther and Ryan Ross of the University of Nevada suggest using Oobleck to help describe the science of solutions, suspensions, emulsions and immiscible liquids to the children.
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Tips & Warnings
Read the story of "Bartholomew and Oobleck" by Dr. Seuss before starting the experiment to prepare students. Have them hypothesize how to make Oobleck before you begin experimenting.
