Making Gloop (aka Oobleck) .... Sensory fun!
February 2025
Sensory awareness goes hand in hand with creativity. Sensory play arouses children’s imaginations, creativity and curiosity through exploration of texture, temperature and experimenting. There are so many different sensory play ideas for children, but lets focus on just one today- Gloop aka oobleck!
You will need:
• 2 cups of cornflour
• 1 cup of cold water
• Food Colouring
• A large container or bowl
Place the cornflour into a large container and place a few drops of colouring into the centre. Have the water ready for your child to pour into the container.
Mix the water into the cornflour and colouring. It will take some time to mix together but encourage your child to play with the gloop before it is mixed. What does it feel like?
Solid or Liquid: Cornflour is made of lots of long, stringy particles. When water is added they do not dissolve in water, but they do spread themselves out. This allows the gloop to act both like a solid and a liquid. The scientific term for this is a non-Newtonian fluid, which means that its flow properties are not described by a constant viscosity and change depending on the amount of pressure applied. When you roll the mixture in your hands or apply pressure to it, the particles join together and the mixture feels solid. But if it is left to rest or is held up and allowed to dribble, the particles slide over each other and it feels like a liquid. This amazing property makes it hard to mix the cornflour and water together so don't be discouraged when it resists you, it will all come together as it relaxes.
You can add food coloring during the mixing process to observe how the color spreads into the white gloop. Mixing more than one color at a time can be fun, too.
Incorporating utensils into the activity, such as items that create patterns in the gloop or objects for scooping and pouring, can enhance the experience.
Make sure to join in the fun with your child. By role-modeling how to try new things and demonstrating positive interactions with sensory resources, you can provide valuable benefits for their learning and development.
Interesting fact: Oobleck gets its name from the 1949 Dr. Seuss book Bartholomew and the Oobleck. In the book, a sticky green substance called oobleck falls from the sky.