Monday, March 2, 2009

Fox in Socks part 2

After you have found yourself all twisted up by tongue twisters, take a break to whip up a batch of goo. Here are two recipes using ingredients you may already have in your home. If you do not have these ingredients, try mixing up a batch of homemade play-dough or bring out the dough you already have on hand and construct a creature from Fox in Socks.

Goo #1
*1 tablespoon of Borax
*white school glue
* 1/2 cup warm water
*container to mix it all in
*mess friendly zone

There are many recipes for this goo online and while they all work, I like to give children small amounts of the ingredients and allow them to experiment. The key to this project is the warm water and Borax. You do not need a lot of glue.Pour your warm water into the container you are planning to use. Have your child measure out one tablespoon of Borax detergent. Borax (sodium borate) is a natural mineral compound often used as a laundry booster. You can find it at large drugstores or online. Stir to dissolve.Squeeze or poor a small amount of white glue into the borax/water mixture. The glue almost immediately sticks to itself and turns into putty. Add more glue for more putty.
Remove and have fun! This recipe make a silly putty style putty. The more you handle it, the more you are able to get the moisture out. This putty bounces just like a superball and even lifts newsprint for some comic crazy fun. The leftover water mixture can be poured down your sink and the goo can be saved for about three days in an airtight container. If you wish to make a tinted putty. Add your color to the glue first and then add the borax and water mixture to the glue. Click here to read more about this experiment and have fun!

Goo #2 (this one can be super messy)
*a good sized container for the mixing
*1/2 cup water
*1/3 cup of corn starch
*food color optional
*mess friendly area
*aprons or smocks for the tots

Set out your ingredients in a mess friendly zone. Making this an outdoor activity is perfect but indoors will work just fine. Dump the cornstarch into your container.. You can have your wee one measure it if you like. You really don't need much so stick with 1/3 cup if you can.Next, allow your child to add water to the cornstarch, a little at a time. It will start out looking crazy clumpy, lumpy so take some time to stir it up a bit.
That's it! It is really hard to explain how this goo feels so I made a quick video clip for you to watch. Have fun!

5 comments:

  1. yay for thixotropic aqueous solutions!

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  2. oh this looks like so much fun. Must try it with the kids later today. :)

    I also wanted to let you know that I'm doing a painting challenge over at the blog, and thought you might be interested. hugs!

    Kristin
    http://reclaimingthehome.typepad.com

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  3. My kids are going to love the silly putty! Thank you.

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  4. So much fun! My girls go wild over this stuff! Thanks for sharing.

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  5. Please let parents know to be careful little ones do not put this in their mouths or put their fingers in their mouths after handling it! Borax is natural but it is a poison and as little as a TBS is lethal for a toddler.

    Here are a couple of links for further info: http://www.strobel.com/studies.htm (this site has many links about toxicity and the official MSDS on borax) and Medline's page on boric acid poisoning: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/002485.htm.

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