How to Make Oobleck: Science with Dr. Seuss!
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Have you ever heard of Oobleck? It is a must try classic science experiment. The Dr. Seuss book Bartholomew and the Oobleck gave us the name to this fun science experiment. It’s a silly one that inspired the name of the cornstarch and water slime that everyone loves to make.
It is a perfect and simple sensory play activity for young children, but it is also a great lesson in science. If you want to know how to make Oobleck you have come to the right place! Read on to get the oobleck recipe you have been looking for. Plus I have a Printable Oobleck Recipe for you to download at the bottom of this post.
What is Oobleck?
Not only is oobleck fun to play with, it is also a simple science experiment. Your kids will love it if you add this oobleck experiment to their science lessons.
Oobleck is a is a non-newtonian fluid made with a mixture of cornstarch and water. A non-Newtonian fluid is one that doesn’t follow Newton’s law of viscosity. Oobleck is not really a solid or a liquid.  Fluids have a property called viscosity that explains how it flows.  Syrup is more viscous than juice for instance. The viscosity of oobleck is not constant. It changes depending on the amount of pressure applied to it.  When you apply pressure to oobleck  it will stop moving, get firm and behave like a solid, but when you release the pressure it is gooey and behaves like a liquid.
What happens is the larger solid cornstarch particles or molecules form long chains. The smaller water molecules flow between the cornstarch molecules causing the chains to slide and flow around each other. This is why oobleck is in a liquid state when it is not under pressure.
It is a liquid and a solid at once and it is seriously a ton of fun to play with! If you just let your hands sit in the mixture, they will sink in like quicksand. And just like quicksand, the more you move, the harder the mixture gets making you even more stuck!
This stuff is perfect for when you are teaching about different states of matter or properties of matter (solids, liquids and gasses). It is a really fun sensory activity for kids of all ages, too!
Oobleck has a few different names~ goop, oobleck slime or cornstarch slime. Â The texture of oobleck is hard to fully describe. You just need to experience it for yourself!
Watch How We Played with Oobleck:
This video will show some of the fun ways we played with our Oobleck mixture! You will see how much fun it really is! Children of all ages enjoy playing with this stuff.
Easy Oobleck Recipe
Have you ever wondered how to make homemade Oobleck? Â I have a simple oobleck recipe for you. This is so much easier to make than traditional slime! The recipe is super simple to make. You need just two ingredients: Corn starch and Water.
Download the Printable Oobleck Recipe now!
Note: If you do not have cornstarch, you can try making oobleck with another starchy flour- potato starch supposedly works well, arrowroot flour or corn flour.
The ratio to get oobleck to the right consistency is two parts cornstarch (also called corn flour) to 1 part water. We made ours with 9 cups of cornstarch and 4 1/2 cups of water. You can also add food coloring if you want, but this is totally optional. With all of the cornstarch, it doesn’t tend to get very bright unless you add many many drops of food coloring!
Mix it in a large bowl or plastic bin, or other plastic container. Â Use a big a spoon and find a place where messy play is OK. Let the kids have a turn to stir, too. We took ours outside so the kids could get as messy as they wanted and clean up would be easier. (They could be hosed down after!)
After a bunch of play, we divided it out into 4 different bowls and mixed in some coloring. I used liquid watercolors for ours, but food coloring would work just as well! Try swirling colors to make rainbow oobleck! What different ways can you think to experiment with it? Â Maybe you could see what happens when you freeze it!
I have done this a lot of times with my kids, but it always seems to amaze and excite them. It never gets old. It;’s a fun way to entertain kids on a Summer day! Â The bigger kids remember it well, but my younger kids needed a chance to dig in and get messy. Its always fun to re-make an old classic & great science experiment.
If you make a big enough batch of it, you can even walk on it!! Your little scientists will love this! Â (Full disclosure, that plastic bowl broke during this adventure!)
Just a heads up: you do not want to pour this down the drain. It will clog it up. You can also save it for a few days in an airtight container.
Subscribe now to download the printable recipe!
Bartholomew and the Oobleck
If you have never read the Dr. Seuss book Bartholomew and the Oobleck, it is worth the read. We always love a good, silly Dr. Seuss book. This one is a Caldecott award winner, so you know it is good!
It is about a king who is bored with regular weather and asks his magicians to make something new. Instead of regular rain, oobleck falls from the sky. It rains sticky, gooey oobleck and it makes a huge mess! Bartholomew, a wise page boy, helps solve the problem with just a few simple words.
Want even more Hands-on Learning and Messy Play ideas for Kids?
Check out some of these ideas:
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Try some more messy play with our Floam Recipe or our Favorite Slime Recipe!
Thanks for this fun project