How to make Oobleck!

Believe it or not, there are some science activites that can be found using Dr. Seuss Books. The book "Bartholomew and the Oobleck" is a good example of learning about comparing solids. The Oobleck acts like both a solid and a liquid. For our momstown's Little Scientist's program we got messy and made oobleck!

For this experiment, you'll need to make some Oobleck.

Recipe:

2 cups cornstarch

3 drops food coloring

1 cup water

Mix ingredients together in a medium sized bowl. (Add water slowly as it may not need entire cup!).

Observation:

Mix the ingredients and allow children to play with the mixture. When"pushed" together, the mixture will appear dry and solid; as children let go of the mixture, it flows like a smooth liquid.

It's a really fun recipe to use as a science experiment. Is it a solid? Is it a liquid? It's a liquid until pressure is applied. Hit it hard and it feels like you are hitting a wall! Touch it gently and the material will flow around your fingers like water! Have fun using different utensils to play- see what form it takes while using different cups, spoons, bowls, etc.

Conclusion:

Using what they have learned, your kids can decide if it is a solid or a liquid.

Some other fun things to observe about OOBLECK

~ Oobleck is a solid and a liquid at the same time.

~ If you make a ball and throw it up in the air, it loses shape and becomes flat in the air.

~ Oobleck can be molded in a container and when taken out does not keep shape.

~ If you fill a balloon with Oobleck, the air presses or forces the Oobleck back out.

~ When you leave Oobleck in the sun, the color evaporates, it turns hard like cement on the top and like jelly on the bottom. When heated this also happens and it is sticky.

~ Oobleck does not bounce.

Get creative with a Dr. Seuss themed party!

My daughter loves to read! And she is a little silly, as most 3 year olds are. So I wanted to throw a fun, wacky birthday party for her.  So with the help of pinterest I got some fabulous ideas on a Dr. Seuss themed birthday party.

1) First off, location. I knew right away the place to have it. The Children's Museum is a fun, wacky and colourful place. Perfect for a Dr. Seuss themed party!

2) Invitations. Well I sort of delayed myself on this, so I sent out e-invites to avoid postal delays. Otherwise I would have gone with a mailed invitation. Something about receiving an invitation in the mail that still excited me! Here's a great example of a Dr. Seuss invitation, that looks like a book.

Click here to see more of this invitation.

3) Guest list. This really depends on how big or small you want to go. I really am a big believer of to each their own. Some people like big parties, some like small gatherings. Last year we skipped my daughter's birthday because we just moved back home to Winnipeg. So mama guilt got the best of me and I went BIG!

These were just some of the guests!

4) The food. This part was fun to get my creative juices flowing. It's easier and a lot simpler then it appears. All the ideas are all ready out there. Creative names and presentation make simple food look like hours of work. Here's a great blog that inspired me.

The spread! It's all in the presentation. So simple. I worded the food on Dr. Seuss labels based on characters or objects from Dr. Seuss books. Like a Cheese Tree, Sam I Am Hamwiches, Yertles Blueberries and Green Eggs.

I bought the water bottle labels off etsy.

I made my own cupcakes. You can't tell but the blue icing is standing up like the hair of Thing 1 and Thing 2.

Who Pudding and Blue Goo! Pudding and Jello. Simple and easy to make.

5) The activities. The kids got to make and wear Dr. Seuss hats. They also made goo, an activity that the museum provides. But if you host this at home I would get the kids to make Oobleck!  Then benefit of having a party outside the home in places such as the Children's Museum is that the kids got to run around and play in the museum. So less activities for mom to plan! 

Other activities you could do is pin the egg on the ham, read a Dr. Seuss book, make a wacky Dr. Seuss inspired craft or set up the inflatable pool and place cut outs of fish and have the kids fish with a fishing rod. We did a lot of these activities at our momstown Dr. Seuss Birthday Party!

6) The decorations. I actually had a hard time finding Dr. Seuss decorations at the store so I had to be creative. I bought cheap wooden A, B, C letters at Walmart and painted them. I found some cute stuff of etsy too. I printed some Dr. Seuss quotes that I bought off etsy and placed them in cheap black frames I got from Dollerama. And I placed all our Dr. Seuss books around the room as part of the decorations.  I used colourful bowls for the food and that was pretty much it.  

7) The loot bags. I wanted to give something useful, so they each got a Dr. Seuss book with some stickers. A few older kids got book markers instead as I figured Dr. Seuss would be a tad too easy for their reading level.

So that's our Dr. Seuss Party. The only regret was I didn't take more photos. It was a fun party to plan and my daughter talked about it for weeks!

Happy Birthday Dr Seuss!

Today is Dr. Seuss' Birthday and of course we had to celebrate with a party! It's the momstown way! This free event was open to the public and we had loads of crafts, games, circle time which included reading Dr. Seuss books and singing songs, cake and some fun times with a parachute! And of course some good times hanging out with other moms while the kids ran around and played.

Patiently waiting for the fishing rods.

Pin the egg on the plate game.

Yertle the Turtle Craft

Cat in the Hat hats

One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish Blue Fish fishing game.

Story Time

A special thanks to everyone who came out and to Kildonan Place Shopping Centre for letting us use their centre court!

Little Scientists: Mixing Colours

Our theme this month is Mix and Match. So for our Little Scientists lab we decided to learn all about mixing colours. What happens when you mix primary colours?

This is an easy science project that you can do with the kids too. All you need is water, food colour (in red, blue, yellow and green), a bulb syringe (your kids medicine syringe will do just fine) and clear cups or white ice cube trays. Start off with basic primary colours and start mixing. See what colours when mixed together make new colours.

Jenn was our science teacher that day.

Next month we are making Oobleck in honour of Dr. Seuss' Birthday. It's going to be another messy Science lab!