13 Ways to Play with Oobleck + Recipe

This Oobleck recipe is quick to whip up with just two ingredients. Then see our list of favorite ways to play with this amazing sensory material!

Updated May 2024

Oobleck is a completely mesmerizing material for kids to touch and play with. Since it’s just cornstarch and water (plus any color you want to add), it’s super easy and inexpensive to make. It’s also taste safe and non toxic, making it a great sensory play material for babies and toddlers.

Sometimes it acts like a solid. Sometimes it acts like a liquid.

And, to add to the weirdness, oobleck acts differently from a normal liquid and differently from a normal solid.

How is that possible? Oobleck is a non-Newtonian fluid, meaning it is a pressure-dependent substance.

If you increase the pressure on the oobleck, it increases the viscosity or thickness. But if you poke at it quickly, it feels like a solid. And if you hold some in your hand, it will ooze out of your fingers like a liquid.

Since our first batch of sensory goop, we’ve made oobleck many other times.

Oobleck Recipe

Here’s our oobleck recipe (it is super easy!). Be sure to save and print this for future batches!

How to Make Oobleck

5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star No reviews

• Author: The Artful Parent

Print Recipe

Pin Recipe

---

Description

Learn how to make oobleck with just two ingredients. This recipe is easy to make and is a super fun sensory play material for kids.

---

Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

• 1 1/2 to 2 cups cornstarch
• 1 cup water
• Food coloring

Cook Mode Prevent your screen from going dark

---

Instructions

1. Whisk the food coloring into the water so that it colors the oobleck evenly.
2. Start with 1.5 cups and add more if it is too runny. You’re looking for a consistency that is solid and then runs off when held in your hand.
3. Pour your oobleck into a large bin for playing. 

---

Now, for what to do with this fun, non-Newtonian fluid…

13 Super Fun Things to Do with Oobleck

1. Drive toy cars through it (it’s just cornstarch, remember, and washes off easily)
2. Play with it using your hands (of course!)
3. Let the goop drip through a strainer, a berry basket, or something else with holes
4. Make dancing oobleck (on Babble Dabble Do)
5. Try color mixing with it! Either add the food coloring to white oobleck or mix two colors of the stuff together
6. Dribble and paint with goop on a sidewalk or driveway
7. Use it for pretend play with toy animals or favorite figurines
8. Make your goop glow in the dark (on Babble Dabble Do)
9. Make galaxy oobleck (on Natural Beach Living)
10. Try freezing it (on Inspiration Laboratories)
11. Make fluffy oobleck! (on Fantastic Fun and Learning)
12. Add flowers and leaves to it to make nature oobleck (on Kids Craft Room)
13. Have a rainbow ooblek play group party (on Meri Cherry)

P.S. If you have a corn sensitivity in your family, you can make this with arrowroot powder instead.

More Sensory Play for Kids

• How to Make Oobleck
• Why Sensory Play is Important & 10 Sensory Bin Ideas for Kids
• The Ultimate Guide to Sensory Play Materials
• How to Make Slime Creations for Kids (with Loose Parts)
• 11 Awesome Sensory Materials for Kids
• Best Ever Butter Slime Recipe

Pin It for Later