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Wednesday, January 4, 2012

Science Fun: Experimenting with Homemade Goop

This week we are all about having some wacky fun with science.
Today, we started with a simple science experiment that was BIG on FUN!

Exploring Homemade GOOP



Goop is a cross between slime and flubber. It's not solid but it's also not 100% liquid which is why it's so fun to play with and perfect for little hands to explore. The mixture is "scoop"able and feels solid and  "grab"able (I am totally making up words here, I know!) to the touch. Yet as soon as you manipulate it - it seems to melt and runs right through your fingers.  Then you can do it all over again & if your kids are anything like mine - they will want to do it over and over and over again! 

What You Need:
baking soda
corn starch
water
bowl
paper towels or baby wipes
 - it will get MESSY!


What To Do:

1. We started by pouring 1 cup of baking soda,


plus one cup of corn starch,


and 1/2 cup of water into a bowl.


Note - add the water slowly, mixing everything up as you add it in.


The mixture will appear runny at first.



After mixing for a bit, the mixture will become more "scoop"able -
you can actually scoop it up with your hands & it feels solid as you do it.


The goop will melt right through your fingers like slime.


The Oldest Diva LOVED this experiment & wanted to see what happened if we added more corn starch. I let her pour in some more corn starch. We didn't measure at this point, I just let her go for it. It was an experiment after all.  She found that the addition of more corn starch made a difference in the consistency. The mixture was a bit thicker as you can see in the photo below.  She enjoyed watching & feeling it drip down her hands by the fistful. 


That of course led to adding more baking soda which made the concoction even thicker. It became harder to mix/manipulate and took a bit more hand strength from the Oldest Diva to scoop up but it definitely had more of a solid feel once she managed to get it in her hands. 


You can see how much thicker it looks texture wise in the photo below.


The more we played with it, the tougher the concoction seemed to get. 
The Oldest Diva started to grab clumps/lumps of the goop at a time in her hands. 
She could almost form a ball with it - look in her hands in the photo below.


Yet, the minute she manipulated it, 
the goop would liquify/melt through her fingertips. 
Fascinating stuff!


If you haven't taken the time to play with GOOP -
we highly recommend exploring this messy and fascinating concoction!

Bern

18 comments:

  1. Looks fun. We haven't done this yet. Maybe this summer...

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  2. What fun - I bet my kids would love this

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  3. Thanks, we had fun doing this tonight while dinner cooked. My almost 3 year old LOVED it, my almost 6 year old (surprisingly) wasn't as into it, but enjoyed it for a bit and then moved on!

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  4. Eek. Goops indeed. Kids love it!!

    Thank you for sharing on Kids Get Crafty!

    Maggy

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  5. That looks like sooooooo much fun!! I am pinning & planning on doing it SOON!! Grown-ups get to play too, right =-) I also shared it with my readers on Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Living-Life-Intentionally/261252997248957
    Thanks for linking up,
    Beth =-)

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    Replies
    1. Beth did you try it? I hope you don't wait as long as I did to jump in & do it! haha!

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  6. I would like so much to try it with my son, but he avoids everything messy or feels like messy. :( Can you believe that he did finger paint only 2 times? He's 6 yo.... Looks so much fun!

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  7. I've only ever made corn starch and water goo. I'll have to try adding baking soda.

    Thanks for linking up to Afterschool =)

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  8. We've done the corn starch and water, I wonder what the difference is when you add the baking soda.

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  9. We've also done it with cornstarch and water (oobleck recipe). It was super messy!

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    Replies
    1. this is a bit firmer than the oobleck (if that makes sense) - you need to try it!

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  10. What a fun lesson. Of course anything that messy always looks fun. Thank you for sharing at Sharing Saturday!

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  11. This is one of my favorite experiments! Your pictures are awesome!! I'm going to share this on FB!

    Carla

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  12. we love gloop in this house. we made some dance the other week. looks really spooky!!

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  13. A brand new recipe for "goop" do you throw it out when you are finished or do you let it dry out and reuse it?

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    Replies
    1. We ended up throwing it out simply because w/all our experiments we have had way too much hanging around the kitchen this week and they kept experimenting with it and adding more of the ingredients so it was a mess at the end (but so much fun to just let them question and explore!) :) I should have let them observe it when left out though - that would have been cool!

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Thanks for taking the time to visit Mom to 2 Posh Lil Divas! I hope you will stay awhile to explore all we have to offer!