Nothing says summertime like a popsicle, and nothing says fun like ooey gooey slime! In this activity you will make oobleck - a type of slime made from cornstarch and water. The name "oobleck" comes from a Dr. Seuss book entitled Bartholomew and the Oobleck. Our version of oobleck contains a "secret" ingredient that provides the color and smell of a popsicle!
Supplies:
1 mixing tray or bowl
1 cup of cornstarch
1 Kool-aid or similar type of drink packet
1/2 cup water
popsicle stick or spoon for stirring
optional kitchen or play-dough tools
Instructions:
1) Place your mixing tray on a flat surface. Kool-aid contains food coloring that can stain surfaces, so you may want to protect your work surface with some newspaper or other covering.
2) Slowly add your cornstarch to the tray. Take a moment to feel the cornstarch. Can you describe it? Does it remind you of anything you have felt before? Some people think it feels like whipped cream.
3) Add the contents of the Kool-aid packet and stir a bit to distribute the color more evenly throughout the cornstarch.
4) Add the water to the tray and mix. If you like, use your stick or spoon to mix up the oobleck as much as you can. Then dig in and finish the mixing with your hands!
*Some Kool-aid flavors stain the skin more than others. Red-colored flavors were the worst culprits on our hands. (Though after washing one sink-full of dishes, the staining was completely gone!) We did not notice any skin staining with lemonade, only a bit under the fingernails with orange, and quite faint staining with blue-raspberry.
4) What do you notice? How does the oobleck look? How does it smell? How does it feel? Which flavor of popsicle does your oobleck remind you of?
*Although the oobleck is not toxic, you shouldn't eat it. It won't taste good, and if you eat too much cornstarch at once it might give you a stomachache.
5) Play with your cornstarch slime! Grab a handful. Can you squish it into a ball? Does the slime ball feel like a solid or liquid? If you open your hand up and wait a moment what happens? Does the slime look like a solid or a liquid? If your slime is very hard to work with, add water (just a little bit at a time) until the consistency is right for you. Try poking the slime with your finger quickly, and then try again very slowly. What happens?
If you have some kitchen or play-dough tools handy, explore your oobleck some more! Can you slice it or press it into shapes? Does it ooze out of those shapes faster or slower than you expected?
6) If you want to save your slime you can leave it in the tray. It will dry out over time but you can always add a little bit of water and mix until it feels the way you like. Do not seal your popsicle oobleck up in a container or ziploc bag - it will get moldy pretty quickly if stored this way.
7) Cleanup: DO NOT dump your tray of oobleck down the drain – throw it in the trash. If you accidentally dump it down the drain, run LOTS of water to avoid clogging pipes! Use soap and water to clean your hands. Cornstarch can be wiped off surfaces with water, or vacuumed up if it is dry.
Sometimes oobleck seems like a liquid because it flows. Other times, like when you squeeze it or smack it, it turns solid. It is called a non-Newtonian fluid because it does not flow the way you would expect a liquid to flow when force is applied.
Want to jazz things up a bit? Grab about 1 tablespoon of baking soda and sprinkle it on top of your oobleck. Wait and watch for a minute. What do you notice? Do you see any bubbles? If you listen very closely, can you hear any fizzy noises? If you want to speed things up, use a disposable pipette to add a few drops of water to the baking soda. Don't have a pipette handy? No problem. Check out the Pipetting a Rainbow activity for instructions on making your own pipette from a plastic straw! Water will help the baking soda come into contact with the citric acid in the Kool-aid, initiating a gas-producing chemical reaction. For more on this reaction, check out the Erupting Lemonade post!
Go ahead and mix the baking soda into your oobleck. What do you notice now? Do you see lots of bubbles of carbon dioxide gas rising to the top? Now you have carbonated popsicle oobleck!
Click below to download a pdf of the Popsicle Oobleck DIY science kit for easier printing.
Make messes, have fun and spread science joy!
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