If your kids are into STEM experiments, they’ll love these gooey recipes perfect for crafty science experiments!
Use What you Have
Staples like cornstarch, flour, salt, baking soda, and dish soap make perfect ingredients for home science kits. Follow along, we’ve got recipes for slime, salt dough, sidewalk puffy paint, kinetic sand and Dr. Seuss’s Oobleck. Most of the recipes use household ingredients and products and are great hands-on sensory activities to keep the kids busy.
Puffy Paint Sidewalk “Chalk”
Supplies needed:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup water
1 tablespoon liquid dish soap
Food coloring or washable paint (if desired)
Squeeze bottle
Instructions:
Mix flour and water in a large bowl, making sure there are no lumps.
Stir in the liquid dish soap.
Add food coloring/washable paint until desired color.
Pour mixture into squeeze bottles and start decorating your sidewalk!
***This mixture does not keep well. Please use same day and discard leftovers.
Source: midgetmomma.com
Salt Dough Play-Doh
Supplies needed:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup salt
1 cup cold water
Instructions:
Mix flour and salt in a large bowl. Add water slowly (a few tablespoons at a time) until the dough is smooth.
Knead for 10 minutes.
Let rest for 20 minutes.
*If baking, pre-heat the oven to 250 degrees. Place shapes on a baking sheet and cook until dry, about 2 hours. Cool completely before painting.
Dough can be played with as-is when soft. Dough can also be baked to a permanent finish so pull out your cookie cutters to make ornaments, keepsake hand prints, or anything else you want to create!
Source: allrecipes.com
Oobleck: it’s a Solid AND a Liquid
Supplies needed:
2 cups cornstarch
1 cup water
Food Coloring (optional)
Instructions:
Mix 2 cups cornstarch and 1 cup water in a bowl
Add food coloring if desired.
Adjust consistency as needed.
**The oobleck may look like both a solid and a liquid but moves differently when pressure (ie rolling it into a ball) is applied. Another fun tip is to see how the oobleck reacts to utensils!
Source: thebestideasforkids.com
3 Ingredient SLIME
Supplies needed:
2 4-oz bottles washable school glue (ie Elmer’s)
1 teaspoon baking soda
2-3 tablespoons saline solution (ie contact lens solution)
Food coloring (optional)
Glitter (optional)
Instructions:
Pour glue into a bowl and color/glitter the glue (if desired) first.
Add baking soda and stir until smooth.
Slowly stir in 2 tablespoons contact lens solution until mixture starts to become stringy.
Continue to mix slowly until a ball forms.
Pick up the ball and knead by hand until smooth.
*If the mixture is too slimy, slowly add another 1/2 tablespoon of contact lens solution
Source: thekitchn.com
Kinetic Sand
Supplies needed:
2 1/2 cups sand
1 1/2 cups cornstarch (or flour)
1/2 cup oil (canola, olive, mineral, or baby)
Instructions:
Mix sand and cornstarch in a bowl or glass casserole dish.
Pour in oil and mix thoroughly until there are no dry or oily places.
Source: eatingrichly.com
Find more fun STEM activities at our virtual STEAM Fair!