How to Make Oobleck Recipe (Sensory and Science)

Kids love this activity for its science as well as its sensory aspect and I love that the oobleck recipe is easy to make!

Oobleck is a non-Newtonian fluid; it has properties of both liquids and solids. You can slowly dip your hand into it like a liquid, but if you squeeze the oobleck or punch it, it will feel solid. The name oobleck comes from the Dr. Seuss book, “Bartholomew and the Oobleck.” In the story, oobleck, a gooey green substance, fell from the sky and wreaked havoc in the kingdom.

I made a colorless batch of the oobleck recipe and added dots of color on top with one drop of food coloring. We have done color mixing the past so it was interesting to see the children try to mix the colors.

They then realized that poking the oobleck was rather solid.

But if we slowly apply our hands we were able to mix.

I love watching colors mix, they always make such awesome patterns.

Oobleck Recipe ingredients:

• 2 cups water
• 3 to 4 cups cornstarch
• Small amount of food coloring (optional)

Start with the water in the bowl and add the cornstarch cup by cup stirring until it has a gooey consistency. You might have to use your hands at this point.

The kids loved the slow sensory feeling at first.

Then they got braver and started applying some pressure which resulted in crumbling and more mixing of the colors. You can roll oobleck into a ball and as long as you keep rolling it it will stay in a solid state but as soon as you stop it’s back to fluid!

The kids hands might become a bit coated with the the oobleck but a wash will remove it no problems. If there is a mess and you are unable to clean it up the oobleck recipe with dry out and turn back into cornstarch which will easily vacuum up. 

You can also add some props to your oobleck recipe. The used one of those cocktail umbrellas just because it was close by! Later plastic farm animals were stuck in the mud and had to be dug out. I bet this would make a great quicksand or tar pit adventure with dinosaurs!

Here is a picture of the oobleck recipe crumbling with a bit of pressure. We piled it on one side of the dish and watched it go back into a fluid state and slowly flow back to cover the entire dish.

I hope you have as much fun as we did! I would love to hear about what you did with your oobleck in the comments.

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