Oobleck Sensory Play

Oobleck is easy to make using just 2 ingredients; it's wonderfully messy and lots of fun to explore! Obbleck sensory play is the perfect indoor activity for toddlers and preschoolers, especially during the colder weather. 

More messy play ideas:

• Frozen fish oobleck sensory play
• Taste safe ice painting
• Homemade snow
• Ice Skating Penguins sensory play

Toddlers and preschoolers, as well as older children, will love exploring the science behind how Oobleck changes from a liquid to a solid - they won't even know they are learning as they'll be so busy having fun!

Oobleck is fascinating. It has the properties of both a solid and a liquid, depending on how much pressure you apply to it.

Today, we added penguins to our Oobleck along with frozen Oobleck in the shape of stars to create a winter small world scene.

How to make Oobleck

Supplies for making oobleck:

• 2 cups of Cornstarch (cornflour)
• 1 cup of Water

This recipe really couldn't be any simpler. Just mix the cornflour and water together in a large bowl. If you want coloured oobleck, add a small amount of food colouring to the water. Have fun playing around with the consistency of the oobleck by adding more cornstarch or water. 

How to make Frozen Oobleck

To add an extra sensory element to this oobleck sensory play, pour some of the oobleck into an ice cube tray and then pop it in the freezer for a few hours to make frozen oobleck.

Oobleck Sensory Play

Oobleck sensory play is easy to set up, and the play can go in many different directions.

To create a winter and penguin-themed small world, we filled 2 baking trays with Oobleck. We also included some cornstarch that hadn't been mixed with water to explore the different textures. Then we introduced a selection of toy penguins.




We couldn't wait to start exploring and had fun covering each other's hands in the oobleck mixture.



After some time exploring the oobleck and playing with the penguins in their snowy world, we introduced some frozen oobleck. I had previously frozen some Oobleck in a star ice cube tray. I had added a few drops of blue food coloring to some of the oobleck before freezing it.






It was fun to watch the blue mixing with the white oobleck as it melted.









Our play took an extra messy turn as one tray of oobleck was tipped into the other.



This resulted in Oobleck pouring all over the table. We found it really funny to find that the tray had stuck to the oobleck on the table.

We decided to freeze the tray of oobleck when we had finished this activity. It has frozen into a sheet of oobleck, ready for some more fun another day.