What The Heck is Oobleck???

We all love Dr. Seuss at our house. We have read many of his books and loved each and every one. This morning I gathered up all my little ones and read "Bartholomew and the Oobleck". It's one I haven't read in a very long time and as soon as started reading it I remembered the wonderful message it gives at the end. Of course afterward we had to make our own Oobleck. The kids were completely mesmerized by it and had so much fun feeling it run through their fingers. This stuff is amazing. The kids (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. If you quickly smack oobleck with your hand it immediately turns into a solid, instead of splashing or moving. If you slowly move oobleck it reacts like a liquid. 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!” You really must try it!

To make your own 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. When the kids weren’t playing with it I covered it with plastic wrap. Have fun!!!