The rain outside today has got me thinking about rainbows and activities to brighten up a ho-hum day. This is a great indoor activity to do with your child. SO MUCH FUN!!! You DO have to be a bit brave – and not afraid of a little mess… but you wouldn’t let that scare you away from a fantastic experience for your child right!!!!? Read on to find out how we made this beautiful rainbow goop sensory activity!
Rainbow Goop Supplies:
- One box of Cornstarch
- Food colouring, assorted colours
- Water
- A Cookie Sheet to contain the mess!
Instructions:
Dump the cornstarch in a bowl and very slowly add between 1/2 cup to 1 cup of water, stirring as you go.
You’ll know you’ve got enough water when the goop starts doing funny things like:
- Looking like it’s a liquid, but when you touch it – it’s a solid! (Whoa – what’s going on here? Have the laws of physical matter bent?)
Really what’s going on here is that this substance is an example of a non-Newtonian liquid. It exhibits properties of both a solid and a liquid under different circumstances. To learn more, check out this awesome video on liquids and solids by Science Max!
2. Moving under your hand when you press flat into the goop! It really felt like it was alive!!! Kinda creepy now that I think about it! 😉
3. You can scrape it up like clay and then suddenly it morphs into a liquid and drips from your fingers! (Hmmm…this could be very fun at Halloween in neon green for slime, or blood red!)
And before you ask, yes it was messy! But yes it was worth the mess! Just remember to do it on a baking tray like we did to contain it a bit!
Onetime (my 2.5 year old son) L-O-V-E-D this stuff! But I can’t see any kid not enjoying himself. I had a ton of fun too!
Oh, and yes, this is a picture of my son after dipping his face in the stuff. I believe my husband said, “What the heck happened to his FACE!?!” when he saw the remnants of the blue food colouring on my son’s nose a couple of hours later. 😂
No worries – it was gone after a bath that evening! My husband and I tend to disagree on what constitutes “too messy!”
Creating the Rainbow Effect
To create the beautiful swirly effect, start adding food colouring drops one colour at a time. We started with red first and waited until it was all swirled in. Then gradually added the other colours.
Adding the different colours one at a time not only helped us see how the goop moved and worked, but made a nice little side lesson on colour mixing!
I found this recipe in an old collection of camp counselling ideas that I had held onto from my early 20’s. I can’t believe I hadn’t tried this before! Onetime played with this stuff for over an hour!
And from a personal perspective, I love the beautiful photos I caught of the colours!
Once you’re all done the play, why not read up a bit about solids, liquids and gases with your child? I love the Fairy Science stories by Ashley Spires and her Solid, Liquid, Gassy one is just perfect for entertaining kids while helping them to understand the characteristics of different types of matter.
This will definitely become a regular on our activity rotation! What do you think? Are you going to try it? Do you DARE???
Happy gooping!
To find even more fun and educational activities as well as positive parenting tips, follow me on Facebook, and Pinterest.
Simple Sensory Activities You Can Do in 10 Minutes
Learn how to make rainbows at home!
Try this Spring themed kinetic sensory bin!
This looks so amazing! Can’t wait to give it a go myself!
We BOTH had fun for sure! Hope you do too!
We do this at least every year – the kids love it! – but we hadn’t done the color mixing yet. It looks beautiful!
Soo pretty! I think I might have to frame some prints! Glad you’ve got something new to try!
So fun! Love messy play! Pinned. Thanks for sharing.
Yes – definitely messy – but worth it! Thanks for dropping by Crayonboxchronicles!
I’m always nervous about using food coloring – but this looks like too much fun! We’ll *have* to give it a try!
Yep – I get it. Just spoiled my favourite t-shirt yesterday with a drop from a project. I guess I need to wear a paint smock like my son! Have fun and thanks for dropping by Emma!