Thursday, January 9, 2014

From Oooos and Aahhhs to Wowws and Eewws

We started with Oooos and Aahhhs over bubbling and fizzing and ended with Wows and Eewws over oozing and goozing today! Such a messy, messy fun (and exhausting) day!!!
I've been wanting to revisit the vinegar and baking soda experiment for a few weeks now and today's chilly, rainy day provided perfectly for it! I finally picked up some bottle dispensers from Wal-mart that I've been eyeing for quite some time. They were less than a dollar each and I just knew they'd be the perfect vehicle for our vinegar!  A few turkey basters are next on my list. :) 

I don't hate the smell of vinegar but I don't love it either. I had read somewhere online that adding a bit of Peppermint oil to vinegar masks the smell so we tried it and whaahh...laa, NO vinegar smell! It really worked. Instead of bearing the smell of vinegar during our play we enjoyed the relaxing smell of pure peppermint oil. Definitely a win! 

We filled our dispensers with vinegar, a few drops of food coloring, 2 drops of peppermint oil and got to work. I evenly dispersed a small box of baking soda for each of them onto a clear disposable top left over from all of our Thanksgiving baking. 

They were so eager to start experimenting! I was a bit worried that they'd hastily empty their dispensers and the fun would be over just as quickly as it begun so I asked them to carefully let the vinegar solution come out on its own. (Eye droppers would be loads of fun too!) It really made me laugh at how well they listened to my request. Not that I didn't expect them to but rather I'm not sure I would have even been able to restrain from the tempting ssqueeezze! Oh I love my babies! They practiced great self control. :) 
Look how nice and neat it begun...haha! 
Gabriella said it sounded just like Sprite fizzing away. :)

After I gave them the go-a-head to squeeze, their excitement heightened and new level fun began! 
They squeeeeezes until there was no squeezing left to be done. Once we were out of vinegar Gabriella noticed the layer of baking soda that remained was perfect grounds for drawing. 
And for hand prints...
Mikey joined in as well...
Our vinegar and baking soda experiment was lots of fun and we will most definitely do it over and over but to be quite honest I was pretty sad that the fun was over so quickly. I love doing experiments with the kiddos but with all the effort it takes to prepare I'd like to spend a valuable amount of time exploring. Sooo since I felt ambitious I reached for the cornstarch.  

If you're ever up for experimenting with messy sensory play give cornstarch a try! It's my go-to when we finish with any liquid sensory play and I'm curious as to what adding cornstarch will do. Cornstarch is amazing! 

We've added cornstarch and water to pumpkin clay we made before Thanksgiving and that was messy, messy, messy! Haha! I may not decide to do that combo in the future. 

I wasn't sure what would come of adding cornstarch to our vinegar but ohhhh was it perfect! It turned into the most delightful Oobleck. 

Getting Oobleck to the right consistency can be a bit tricky. You man have to experiment with how "loose" you want it to be. If you've never played with Oobleck before pleases do! Yes, it is super messy (at least it is the way my 2 year old plays) but it is SOOO much fun! It acts both as a solid and a liquid. There are some really great step by step instructions for making Oobleck here. The term Oobleck comes from Dr. Seuss's book, Bartholomew and the OobleckHaving literature to extend or preface experiments or play time makes it all the more exciting! This momma is all about trying to make connections. :)

Gabriella was fascinated (I was too!) with making large rocks then watching them melt right before her eyes!
Mikey enjoyed watching his hands sink into the solid-liquidy substance. He'd pull them out and watch it ooze from his fingertips. He did this over and over! :) 
I'm not going to pretend at all like this was mess free! It wasn't. Not one bit! :) See...
We made a huge mess! I can't believe I really made a photo collage of just messy pictures!  

Here's a helpful tip for cleaning...because I just can't  leave you with this mess. :) 

Set out a bowl of warm water (I set one close to each of them) for rinsing hands and arms, that's it! I'm not sure WHY I never thought of this helpful tip before but oh was it helpful. You DO NOT  want to carry Oobleck covered kiddos from the play site to the kitchen sink or bathroom for clean up. You will not be able to move quicker that Oobleck oozes. Believe me, I tried. Haha! You'll have little droplets of Oobleck everywhere. Although its really not hard to clean up, its just easier if the mess is confined to one area.  

Mikey enjoyed using his bowl of water to make his Oobleck as runny as possible and then covered every inch of his arm with it! :0 Oh my Mikey! 


This messy play would have been ideal on a sheet/towels on the floor but if you end up with a mess like I did just use a fresh bowl of warm water and a rag to wipe up the rest. Clean up really is that easy, promise! 

I'm going to end this post with my favorite picture from our messy play day...


Just look at those whittle feet and those toes!!!! Oh so cute!

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