Sticky Oozey Things… 

Yesterday was a day of making sticky oozey things. First, we made a couple of batches of homemade slime (one each for Beth and Luke), then we made oobleck, and finally we made brownies.  Recipes for all of these are below. (Tip: don’t mix them up.)

-

Slime

The slime is very similar to the slime you can buy in toy stores. It is easy to make. You need Borax (found in most detergent aisles); a 5oz bottle of clear Elmer’s glue (white glue will work but the slime will be opaque); water; and food coloring.

1. In a bowl, take ½ cup of very warm water and slowly stir Borax into it until no more Borax will dissolve. There may be some Borax grains in the bottom. That’s okay.
2. In another bowl, mix 1¼ cup of very warm water with an entire 5oz. bottle of clear Elmer’s glue.  Some glue bottles are only 4oz, so adjust your water accordingly.
3. Add food coloring to the glue mixture as desired. Here, the yellow slime was two drops of yellow, while the blue slime was two drops of blue.  Mix it in well.
4. Take ⅓ cup of the Borax mixture (without any Borax grains that might be at the bottom) and slowly mix it into the glue mixture. It will get thicker very quickly.  Don’t be afraid to use your hands to knead it around.
5. If the slime is too chunky, add little bits of warm water (1-2 tablespoons at a time) and knead it in for a few minutes.  Keep doing this until you reach the desired slime consistency.
6. Store the results in an airtight container or ziploc bag.

It’s pretty gross, which means it is fun for children.  It is also very sticky and likely to make an enormous mess.  Fortunately it washes off pretty easily (since the glue is washable, and Borax is soap), although the food coloring can stain clothing and furniture if you aren’t careful.

-

Oobleck

This is a common experiment in children’s science books. The mixture has curious properties: when you apply strong or sudden force to it, it feels like a solid; but when you let up, it acts like a liquid. Scientifically, it is a non-Newtonian fluid called a diletant. Unscientifically, it is from the Dr. Seuss book Bartholomew and the Oobleck.

It’s easy to make.  In a bowl or tray, mix 1 cup of water with 1½ cups of corn starch. Use a spoon to mix it well. It may take 8-10 minutes to get an even consistency. Add more corn starch if you want thicker oobleck. Add food coloring if desired. In the hospital-green mixture above, we added three drops of blue and two drops of yellow.

Fortunately, corn starch cleans up easily in the sink.

-

Brownies

I didn’t have any baking chocolate on hand (which is unusual in this house), and was nearly out of other ingredients, but for some reason there was cocoa powder in the pantry. So I adapted a recipe from the internet.  It’s not as good as my usual recipe but it was good enough that the pan was half gone in less than an hour.

Ingredients:

• ½ cup melted butter (this is all the butter I had on hand)
• ½ cup canola oil (this is all the oil I had on hand)
• 1½ cups white sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 4 eggs
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 cup coconut flakes

Steps:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease a 13x9 inch baking pan.
2. In a medium bowl, mix together the butter, oil, sugar, and vanilla. Beat in the eggs.
3. One at a time, add the cocoa, flour, salt, and baking powder to the batter. Stir each ingredient in well before adding the next ingredient.
4. Spread the batter evenly into the pan. Sprinkle the coconut evenly across the top of the batter and lightly press it into the batter.
5. Bake for 20 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out cleanly. Let cool before cutting.

There is enough butter and cocoa in this that it occasionally gives people heartburn and keeps them awake at night. This never seems to stop them from eating it, though.