Goo or Goop? Either Way It Is Great Messy Fun!

Goop... we have made a lot of Goop over the years, but C and I decided that it would be fun to make goop again at our Wednesday Learning Playdate. This little workbook, Science Project Physics Tricks, had a section on mixtures with explanations. So we used the "Do-It-Yourself Blue Goo" experiment with the kids. The book defined cornstarch and told what it is usually used for. It also stated that "goo" is a colloid, a special kind of mixture in which particles of one type of material are suspended in another kind of material. Examples of colloid mixtures are: fog (water floating in air), milk (milk fat suspended in a watery liquid), Jello (gelatin and sweetener suspended in water), oil paint (pigment floating in an oily liquid), mayonnaise (oil suspended in water with the help of egg yolks to keep the oil and water from separating).

We did not tell the kids what we were doing today. Instead, we had them go on a scavenger hunt to find the supplies they would need for an unknown experiment. We wanted to somehow incorporate movement into this activity. Warning: There are excessive amounts of pictures in this post.

Boogs listened while B read the first clue. Then they raced to the backyard and scrambled up the ladder on the playscape.  

They found a jug of water, an information sheet about water, and their next clue. The information sheet had a few facts about water on it - covers 70% of Earth's surface, chemical formula is H2O, and a little bit about the water cycle. 

The next clue led them to food coloring by the hollow stump. They read the clue and raced to the other side of the yard.

They discovered bowls under the picnic table. They also read their last clue. This clue was C's favorite. It said,  "Find the last item where dad burns the meat." B immediately yelled, "THE GRILL!"

They found the cornstarch at the grill and had their supplies. There was an information card for them to read (or be read to) about cornstarch with the box of cornstarch.

Then the mess began.

At first, E only wanted to add food coloring. He did not want to touch the goop.

Big Sis showed him how much fun it is to play with goop.

E quickly decided to dive right in.

Boogs and B loved playing with their slimy, squishy goop.

E and Big Sis enjoying the mess.

Boogs and B spent a little over an hour playing with the goop.

Then Boogs decided to take the mess to a whole new level!

Yikes! Good thing we were doing this outside.

B followed Boogs lead.

Big Sis thought it would be fun to get a picture of an optical illusion of it looking like she was eating goop while the goop was really going beside her mouth. Unfortunately, she miscalculated and the goop swung right into her face.

We all had a good laugh.

B looked like she was wearing gloves.

Boogs ended up matching his shirt.

He just kept piling it on.

We did not realize how much goop was falling onto the porch. Hmmm... does food coloring stain? It sure looked like it was not going to come off.

We threw B into the shower and Boogs into a bath and then hurriedly (frantically) started trying to get the food coloring off of the porch before C's husband came home.

We were able to remove most of the food coloring with a bar of  soap, a little water, and a little bleach.

I am so glad I followed Steve Spangler's advice in his Secret Science Book - Don't try this at home... try it at a friend's house. (Hee hee!) The kids have already started asking what we are going to do next week. Right now, I have no idea. We ran out of time, but the kids did ask to use the Storytelling Cards again this week. We will have to make time next week to have another round of storytelling.


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