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Tag Archives: oobleck

Muddy Monster Truck Derby Sensory Bin

1 / 22 / 191 / 22 / 19

Muddy Monster Truck Derby Sensory Bin | Mama Papa Bubba

Okay, so before you see this awesome muddy monster truck derby sensory bin and think it’s all fun and games over here all day every day, here’s what you need to know…  This morning Sam came along for the school run in undies, a t-shirt, and a sweater.  In minus four degree {celsius} weather.  No pants.  No socks. No boots. And no jacket.  Let alone a toque or mittens.  Thank goodness we do the whole car blanket thing and he at least had that once in, but you guys – this morning was a doooozy.  We got home, I moped a bit, he continued to shout and whine and throw things, and I made a cup of coffee and gulped the whole thing back in bed with the door closed.  Then we hugged it out, agreed to start our morning over, cleaned up, and put this sensory bin full of mud and monster trucks together.

Thank fricken goodness sensory play and calm music have the power to turn a day around.

Muddy Monster Truck Sensory Bin | Mama.Papa.Bubba.{this post contains affiliate links}

Here’s what we used to put this taste-safe, scented, amazing-feeling sensory bin together…

  • one of our go-to Sterilite sensory bins (any shallow bin will work)
  • cornstarch from our play cupboard (when it comes to cooking with it, I always use an organic version)
  • cocoa powder
  • a couple of small toy monster trucks

and later on, these Green Toys cars too.

Muddy Monster Truck Sensory Bin | Mama.Papa.Bubba.

If you haven’t guessed yet, our ‘mud’ for our monster truck derby sensory play is CHOCOLATE oobleck!!

Muddy Monster Truck Sensory Bin | Mama.Papa.Bubba.

We didn’t even bother mixing this up in a separate bowl!  Sam just dumped the cornstarch and cocoa powder straight into our bin…

Muddy Monster Truck Sensory Bin | Mama.Papa.Bubba.

Then whisked it up…

Muddy Monster Truck Sensory Bin | Mama.Papa.Bubba.

And mixed with a wooden spoon as I gradually added water.

Muddy Monster Truck Sensory Bin | Mama.Papa.Bubba.

You can play with the amounts of each ingredient to create thicker or thinner oobleck, but here’s our recipe…

CHOCOLATEY OOBLECK
  • 2 cups of cornstarch
  • 1/2 cup of cocoa
  • 2 cups of water

Whisk the cornstarch and cocoa together well.  Add the water and stir with a wooden spoon {or better yet – your hands!} until the oobleck has a uniform in texture.

Muddy Monster Truck Sensory Bin | Mama.Papa.Bubba.

I gave the chocolate oobleck one last mix before Sam very enthusiastically popped his monster trucks in.

{It goes without saying that Chloe was in on the fun in approximately 2 minutes flat.  Seriously – this kitty of ours loves sensory play just as much as Grae and Sam do!}

Muddy Monster Truck Sensory Bin | Mama.Papa.Bubba.

It obviously depends on the size of your bin, but our layer of oobleck was thin enough to leave very visible monster truck tracks and Sam noticed right away.

Muddy Monster Truck Sensory Bin | Mama.Papa.Bubba.

Muddy Monster Truck Sensory Bin | Mama.Papa.Bubba.

He also realized how insanely neat oobleck is to touch and hold and squish.

Muddy Monster Truck Sensory Bin | Mama.Papa.Bubba.

As for the mess?  With activities like this one, I just remind him to keep his hands in or over the bin.  The truth is that the oobleck mud dries up on surfaces and is a cinch to wipe up, but I still don’t want it all over the kitchen obviously.

Muddy Monster Truck Sensory Bin | Mama.Papa.Bubba.

Part way through his play Sam asked for something for the monster trucks to drive over, so that’s when I offered him a few little Green Toys cars.  We lined them up just like you’d see at a monster truck show and after getting a thorough drizzling of mud, the monster trucks began driving and jumping over them.

Muddy Monster Truck Sensory Bin | Mama.Papa.Bubba.

Muddy Monster Truck Sensory Bin | Mama.Papa.Bubba.

Although this addition was initiated by Sam, starting simple and adding things in here and there during play is one of my go-to methods for extending play activities.

 Muddy Monster Truck Derby Sensory Bin | Mama.Papa.Bubba.
Muddy Monster Truck Sensory Bin | Mama.Papa.Bubba.

Also his request?  ‘A tool and a bucket’, plus later on, a ramp which I chopped from an almond milk carton.  This was during a full one-hour play session and though I have a feeling that it would have lasted significantly longer, we had to put it on pause for nap time.  With the promise that he could continue later on in the afternoon, of course.

Muddy Monster Truck Derby Sensory Play | Mama Papa Bubba

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AWESOME DIY Squishy Soap

2 / 27 / 168 / 22 / 22

DIY Squishy Soap Kids Can Make | Mama Papa Bubba

With Sam home from the NICU, one of the things we’re extra on top of now is hand washing.  It’s the easiest way to keep germs at bay and help ensure our little preemie boy doesn’t come down with something during cold and flu season, which could be really awful for him.  To make the constant hand washing a little more fun for Miss G, I’ve been switching up our soap every now and then by adding different essential oils to it, putting it in a bottle with a foaming pump, and once even adding a drop or two of pink colouring to it {you do what you gotta do, right?}  Thankfully Grae’s really great about it all, even though I feel like I ask her to wash her hands about 100 times a day.

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Colourful Scented Oobleck

11 / 4 / 1311 / 5 / 13

Colourful Scented Oobleck | Mama Papa Bubba

Oobleck, goop, goo, cornstarch paste… Whatever you call it, we’re huge fans!  The cornstarch and water mixture has been a staple in our play repertoire for a long time now and it never fails to captivate those who dare to dig their hands in.  With Halloween having just come and gone, we’ve played with it a ton lately.  Sometimes paired with creepy crawlies, sometimes with giant googly eyes, and other times all on its own.  It’s been loads of fun for Miss G and her little friends in the courtyard, so today we decided to try something different…  Colourful SCENTED oobleck!

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A Spooky Bug Swamp

10 / 24 / 1310 / 27 / 13

IMG 4755

A bin of green oobleck and a handful of creepy crawlers = messy Halloween-inspired fun for the kids in the courtyard.  The bugs slowly sunk into the oobleck and disappeared in the sticky swamp, so retrieving them was great fun.

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Ooblek Dough

5 / 15 / 138 / 11 / 13

Oobleck Dough | Mama Papa BubbaHave you every come home from a shopping trip with surprise item in your bags?  That’s exactly what happened with this hair gel…  I do not use hair gel. Brad does not use hair gel.  No one in our house uses hair gel.  Yet after returning home from a grocery shopping trip with Miss G a few weeks ago, there it was in one of our bags.  My immediate thought was, ‘Crap!  Did we accidentally steal this?!’  I checked the bill and nope, we’d paid for it.  How it got through the checkout and into our bags, I have no idea.  

IMG 9880Anyways, knowing that we wouldn’t be using it in our hair anytime soon, I decided we’d use it for some sort of play.  And when nothing brilliant had come to mind in a few week’s time, I decided that we’d mix it with cornstarch.  Because cornstarch mixed with any sort of liquid = cool, right?

IMG 9889It took some serious mixing to bring the ingredients together first, then it took some serious kneading to smooth it out and soften it up.  The result, however, was quite lovely.  Pillowy soft and lightweight, this dough behaves a lot like ooblek does.  When handled gently and moved slowly, it’s stretchy and elastic, and when handled more abruptly, it breaks off in chunks.

IMG 9892Gracen wanted to play with it immediately, so together we collected some bowls, silicon moulds, and plastic utensils and brought everything outside to play with.

IMG 9893She began exploring her new dough  by sinking her hands into it, squishing it between her fingers, and poking holes into it…

IMG 9907Then it was time to fill all of the containers with “oatmeal”.

IMG 9909With a good breakfast in our tummies, it was time for dessert. ☺  The dough rolls into balls really nicely, so Miss G turned our ball collection into cupcakes with cherries on top.

IMG 9930When we were done with our first round of dessert, Gracen shouted, “Cookies next!” and took off into the house running.  She returned with a tray of creative table goodies – buttons, pony beads, straw pieces, gems, and sparkly pompoms.  I was put in charge of forming the cookies and she was in charge of decorating.

IMG 9919To show that we had eaten the cookies all up, Miss G crumbled them all into a bowl.  

IMG 9922The cool part was that as soon as she was done, the crumbles had already started melting together to form one mass. 

This was such a fun new dough to explore and play with.  One thing we did notice is that after being played with for an hour, it had dried quite a bit.  It definitely can be played with again, but this is not the type of dough you’ll want to leave out for very long when not in use.

Oobleck Dough

  • 1 cup hair gel
  • 1/2 cup water
  • food colouring (optional)
  • 2 cups corn starch

Mix the wet ingredients together.  Add in the cornstarch and mix really well.  Once the dough comes together in a mass, knead until smooth and soft.  

Play!

♥ 

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Playing with Oobleck

11 / 9 / 128 / 11 / 13

Playing with OobleckToday Miss G and I tried making and playing with the ridiculously fun {and equally messy} substance called Oobleck.  It’s made out of only 2 ingredients (or 3 if you want to add a little colour), and it isn’t quite a liquid and it isn’t really a solid…  In fact, it behaves like both. 

While teaching in Kuwait, my team members and I always made Oobleck with our first grade classes during our solids, liquids, and gasses unit and it was definitely one of the favourite lessons.  Today, Grae enjoyed it just as much as my 6 and 7 year old students did, so this is definitely something that can be done with children of all ages.

IMG 2043All you need in order to make Oobleck is water and cornstarch, plus food colouring if you wish.

IMG 2047I like to start by adding the colouring to the water first because it’s a lot easier to stir colouring into water than into the finished Oobleck.

IMG 2050Plus, this way you get to watch the colouring disperse into the water, which is always kind of neat.

IMG 2052Start by giving your water a little stir to make sure the colouring is evenly dispersed.

IMG 2055Then add your cornstarch a cup at a time, stirring it into the water as you go.

IMG 2058When the mixture is nice and thick and you’re not able to pour off any excess water, your Oobleck is ready.

Now go ahead and play!  Watch what happens when you touch the Oobleck quickly with a lot of pressure, versus when you touch it slowly and gently.  

IMG 2060IMG 2062IMG 2064IMG 2067

Be prepared to get messy – it’s more fun that way!  Putting a towel or tray under the bowl of Oobleck should catch most of the spills, and since Oobleck is best played with with hands, you won’t be left with a sink full of dishes afterwards.  ☺

Here are a couple of quick iPhone videos I managed to take of us playing with our Oobleck…

Oobleck

  • 1 cup of water
  • 3 cups of cornstarch
  • 1 or 2 drops of food colouring

Start by colouring the water with food colouring.  Add the cornstarch a cup at a time, stirring in between additions.  The Oobleck is ready when the mixture is thick and excess water cannot by poured off.

(Many recipes on the internet will say that for 1 cup of water you should only need between 1 and 2 cups of cornstarch, but my experience has been that the 1:3 ratio works out perfectly every time.  My suggestion is to add slowly after the second cup and see what works best for you.)

Enjoy!

To learn more about Oobleck, click here.  To see where Oobleck got its silly-sounding name, click here.

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