How to make Goo

You know how much I love cornflour gloop. So when we collected lots of pinecones, sticks and leaves yesterday, I couldn't resist making goo with an Autumnal feel.

autumn cornflour gloop. cornflour water and lovely autumn leaves in a tray

Little H helped me make it this time. We didn't measure it out. We just added water to the cornflour slowly. She loved the sticky feel of it and kept letting the goo run down from her fingers.

If it feels too thick, add more water; if it's too thin, add more cornflour.

cornflour gloop with pinecones and leaves

As always, the DUPLO people got involved and were very messy with us.

This is such a great sensory activity for little ones, H doesn't understand the science behind the way the goo feels, but she got so much out of just being left to explore and play by herself. It was lovely to watch.

Who would you add to your goo?

The science behind cornflour gloop

Did you notice that if you make a ball with the gloop, it feels solid, but if you drop it on the floor, it turns liquid again? The goo is a non - Newtonian fluid as it doesn't flow like liquids normally do.

The goo is made up of molecules arranged in long chains. When the chains are stretched, the liquid will flow, but when you force them together, they stick together to form a solid.