Kids | Exploring with Non-Newtonian Fluid (Oobleck)

Kyle is the cool kid at our house. He has one of those brains that is constantly dreaming up something new and fun. He loves to see how things work and experiment. Of course, he loves to share all of this with our girls. After dinner one evening, Kyle led us all in some fun with science. 

Kyle and I have seen videos of people walking on what looks like liquid. Walking (running really) straight across it. What these people have done is made a large quantity of what is called a non-Newtonian fluid (also known as Oobleck). It is a fluid that when at rest acts as a liquid, but when force is placed upon it, it acts like a solid. It is crazy cool stuff. It's a mixture of water and cornstarch. That's it! 

We played with this stuff for an hour, and only quit because it was bedtime. Hailey would have kept going and going and going... Seriously, if you need to occupy your children for an hour, make them some Oobleck. Or if you would like something fun to do with your children, make some Oobleck. :)

You need:

1 1/2 cups water

16 oz. cornstarch

To make it, grab a large bowl or tub. Pour in the water.  

Add the cornstarch. Start with a little, mix. Add some more, mix. We didn't follow any recipe, we just experimented until it turned out. We used almost the entire 16 oz. of cornstarch.

When the mixture is the right consistency it will pull away from the edges of the bowl.

Now roll up your sleeves, dig your hands in and play!

Try pushing down with your fingers and see how the fluid resists them.

Now relax and watch your finger sink into the goo.

Roll the goo into a ball and watch it ooze out of your hand when you stop rolling. (Sorry the video is choppy, I made it from still images I had taken.)

This stuff is serious fun. I even got into it and had a blast with it. Yes, it's messy, but it cleans right up with water, no scrubbing. Just wet a towel and wipe it away. Now, that's my kind of mess.

If you do just one messy activity with your kids, make it this one! They will love it. You will earn major cool parent points for it. I'm thinking we need to have some friends over and do it again. Anyone want to come play with us!?

Kids: Sight Word Memory

Confession: I am not very good at pretend play. I just get bored with it and have a hard time coming up with anything to contribute. I do enjoy watching and listening to Hailey imagine a whole world beyond my grown up visibility. One of the best things of Hailey getting older has been the addition of new ways to interact with her. She is now old enough to play games, and she loves it. Oh yay! I love to play games. That I can do. Even slow, easy to play, mind numbing games... I can do that. And am happy to.

Hailey has a pretty good understanding of letters and the sounds they make. She has begun sounding out words and showing some interest in reading. She isn't completely ready to read yet, but on the path to get there. In an attempt to help enlarge her interest in reading I made a memory game using sight words.

My idea is that even if she isn't in the mood to learn to read the words at the moment she will at least be able to start recognizing those words as she is exposed to written words just in the everyday things we do. For example, today at church we were singing out of the hymn book. I pointed at each of the words as we sang and she followed along. She excitedly picked up on the word is a couple of times and pointed it out to me. 

The game is played just like any other game of memory. There are 36 total cards, 18 matching sets. Flip over the cards two at a time, if they match keep them and go again. If they don't, flip them back over and it is the next person's turn.

To make things a little easier, while we're still learning to recognize each of the words, instead of turning the cards back over when they don't match we leave them flipped up. I find it can take too long the other way and she loses steam. This way the game goes a little quicker, but she is still able to pick out matches. The more we play it, the more words she will learn to recognize.

Follow the links below to download your own copy. There is one file for the fronts, another for the back. Print the fronts out on cardstock. Reload them back into your printer and print the back on them (you will need to enter in 6 copies for the back, there is only 1 page in the file.) Each printer is different on whether the already printed side goes face up or face down. On my printer, Canon MP970, it is down.

Sight Word Memory Front

Sight Word Memory Back

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Looking for more sight word games? Check out sightwords.com for more fun games to play with your beginning reader! There you will also find strategies for teaching sight words to your child and master lists of sight words, including flash cards to print out to assist in teaching your budding reader to learn how to read.

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