Frozen Oobleck - The Perfect Toddler Summer Activity
With summer right around the corner, unstoppable mamas are looking for new toddler activities to cool kids down. Try this simple spin on traditional Oobleck by placing it in the freezer! The frozen cubes make for the perfect open ended play. There is an incredible amount of stacking, scooping, mixing, and building that can be done with these little cubes. I even added in some ice cubes for an extra sensory experience.
If you are not familiar with Oobleck, it is the classic cornstarch and water combination. The mixture has characteristics of both solids and liquids, making it extremely engaging for tiny fingers. Freezing Oobleck makes the solid properties last longer. This allows kids to be able to stack the cubes, until it melts and becomes more of a traditional consistency.
Changing the colour of the Oobleck, and the items you add in, creates an entirely new activity for kids. The options truly are endless as you can do this activity multiple times, all with a different spin. Try blue Oobleck for a sea theme, green for dinosaur theme, or brown for dump trucks! Be creative and change up the extra add ins to make this unique and different every time.
For this activity I used pink food colouring to match our heart shaped molds. You can use regular ice trays to make the molds, or checkout my amazon page below for some fun ones.
You will need:
Silicone Heart Shaped Mold or Ice Cube Trays (You can find this exact one on my Amazon Shop.)
Cornstarch
Water
Food Colouring
Add-Ins (Animal Figures, Pom Poms, Sparkles, Pipe Cleaners, Water Beads. Etc.)
Instructions:
1) Mix a few drops of food colouring into 1 cup of water.
2) Place two cups of cornstarch into a bowl and slowly add in the coloured water while stirring. Mix until all the cornstarch is absorbed. If the consistency is a little watery, feel free to add in extra cornstarch. The desired consistency should be on the firm side.
3) Fill molds with mixture and place in the freezer. In addition to my molds, I filled the bottom of a serving tin and placed it in the freezer as well to make a base.
4) Make coloured ice cubes by mixing water and food colouring and placing the tray in the freezer.
5) Let the molds, base, and ice cubes freeze overnight.
6) Once you are ready to play add in your extras! Pom Poms, Glitter, Water Beads, Animals, Dinosaurs etc. There is so much you can do to make this fun!
7) Take out your mixing spoons, spatula, tongs and watch your child enjoy!
This toddler activity can be a tad messy. Have a damp cloth nearby and don’t worry, the Oobleck mixture comes out super easily. If you are doing this activity outside, once finished be sure to rinse off your table/floors with a hose after so the mixture isn’t baking in the sun.
Hope your kids have fun with this cool activity.
TAG me on Instagram, I would love to see!
