Oobleck!

When Daddy was a little boy, his mom would read a Dr. Seuss book to him by the name of "Bartholomew and the Oobleck". I love Dr. Seuss books but I had not heard of this book until Grandmother Chance read it to Nicholas on one of our trips to Baton Rouge. The story is about a king who is tired of the same old rain, sun, snow, and fog that comes down from the sky. He asks his magicians to create something new in the sky. They created Oobleck which is green and not quite a liquid but not quite a solid. It is also very sticky. Everyone in the kingdom gets stuck in the gooey stuff until the king finally admits that he was sorry for the problems and it was his fault. I recently saw the book at a store and had to get it. We sat outside and read it today.

I happened to find a "recipe" for Oobleck online so we made some after we read the story. It is just 2 parts cornstarch and 1 part water with green food coloring. Nicholas enjoyed measuring the cornstarch and then playing with it! It really is a wonderful texture, very silky and soft. Then he poured the green water into the bowl and eewwww - we had Oobleck!

This Oobleck is just so much fun to play with. If you scoop it in your hands it will ooze between your fingers as a very slippery liquid. But if you squeeze it, it will feel more like a solid and may even crack. We put our hands in it and we stirred it with spoons.



We even put our feet in it. When Nicholas tried to pull a foot out of the Oobleck he found that it was stuck and he really had to pull to get it out. He thought that was so funny! There was green Oobleck everywhere and it was great!


Fortunately, our Oobleck rinses clean with water! I chased Nicholas around the yard with the water hose until he was Oobleck-free.