Playing With Gloop

If you haven’t made Gloop yet, then this is a must for any toddler or child to try.  It is super fun and super messy, I am not sure who had the most fun, me or the kids!!

Gloop is an interesting mixture with a unique texture to explore and play with.

Playing with Gloop is a fabulous sensory and science activity to learn about the concepts of what a solid and liquid is.

What you will need?

You will need 2 cups of corn flour (cornstarch), 1 cup of water, two drops of food dye and a large container.  Encourage your child to mix and play with the Gloop before it is completely mixed together, the fun and learning starts here.  Explore the texture and talk about what it feels like, sticky, slimy, cold and powdery.

To see full instructions on how to make Gloop, click here:  How to make Gloop?

Tip: This activity can get messy but clean-up is quite easy as gloop can be picked up or wiped off the table and easily washed of hands and clothing.  I would recommend wearing an apron.

Let’s Play

Miss 4 and Miss 22 months had so much fun exploring the behaviour of the gloop, how it drips from her fingers and how hard is hard when pressure is applied.  Miss 22months loved running her fingers through the gloop and watching the effect it had.

Let’s Learn

Here is Miss 4 making a ball of gloop by applying pressure but as soon as she stopped pressing in between her hands the gloop acted became runny.  It was so much fun to watch as they discovered what the gloop did as they played and experimented with it.

This is a great opportunity to explore more descriptive words: what does the gloop feel like?  It feels soft, gooey, slimy, runny and hard.

Let’s Explore

Understanding Gloop

Solid or Liquid: Cornflour is made of lots of long, stringy particles.  When water is added they do not dissolve in water, but they do spread themselves out.  This allows the gloop to act both like a solid and a liquid.  When you roll the mixture in your hands or apply pressure to it, the particles join together and the mixture feels solid.  But if it is left to rest or is held up and allowed to dribble, the particles slide over each other and it feels like a liquid.

Learning Experiences

• Sensory play encourages children to manipulate and mould materials, building up their fine motor skills and coordination.
• Sensory play uses all 5 senses, but the sense of touch is often the most frequent. Toddlers and children process information through their senses.  They learn through exploring these.
• Sensory play is unstructured, open-ended, not product-oriented; it is the purest sense of exploratory learning
• Self-esteem: sensory play offers kids the opportunity for self-expression because there is no right answer and children feel safe to change or experiment with what they are doing.
• Language development- experimenting with language and descriptive words.
• Develop social skills: practising negotiation skills, turn taking and sharing. Provides opportunities for working out problems and experimenting with solutions.
• Encourages Imagination and creative play.