Chocolate Dinosaur Oobleck

Welcome back for another month of  12 Months of Sensory Dough Recipes where several bloggers get together to share the exciting sensory dough recipes and a variety of twists and turns. It is our hope that you will have a one-stop resource for all things Sensory dough! 

This month we are featuring a huge list of ooblecks. Sometimes known as goop, oobleck is a non-Newtonian material that has characteristics of liquids and solids. We had fun playing and exploring with Chocolate Dinosaur Oobleck!

 Unlike our other sensory dough set ups, instead of simply inviting Squiggles and Bubbles to play with the oobleck, I chose to invite them to make the oobleck. I did this by leaving the ingredients out on the kitchen table ready for the girls to find when they woke from their naps. I also included a tray with a few items both the girls have been showing interest in of late: toy dinosaurs, rocks, acorns and sticks.

I was really interested to see how the girls would interact with the oobleck-I was pretty certain they would enjoy making it but previously when I've invited Bubbles to play with oobleck she's been unenthusiastic as she's not a fan of things that stick to her hands.

As predicted the girls had a ball, working co-operatively to make the dough (recipe below). Once the dough was made, Bubbles was intrigued to watch how the dough went from solid to liquid and back again as she scooped it out of the container with the fork we used for mixing. She did not, however, appreciate my invitation to use her hand rather than the tool.

Once the oobleck was made, Bubbles and Squiggles set out and began creating a world for their dinosaurs. With lots of roaring and chattering their dinosaurs came to life as the girls played with them in their new goopy world. Once they realised that the dinosaurs sank in the chocolatey goo, the girls added rocks and acorns for the dinosaurs to shelter on.

Their play took a new direction when Bubbles asked for some water to wash the dinosaurs in. I provided a baby bath full of warm bubbly water and a towel-and Bubbles, after some hesitation-and attempts at using the fork, used her hands to yank the dinosaurs out of their chocolatey quick sand and wash them.

Squiggles joined in for a little bit and then upset Bubbles by upending the bath into the oobleck container! Rather than ending their play though, Squiggles' action encouraged Bubbles to explore the oobleck more thoroughly with her hands-the bubbles, seemingly making the oobleck less scary.

When the girls finished playing we placed the dinosaurs and nature items back in the tray, I drained off the excess water and placed the oobleck box and tray outside  for the girls to re-explore at their leisure. Re-explore they did too! The next day, the one after that, and the one after that for a whole week by which stage there was almost no oobleck left as each day they added and then took out a tub full of bubbly water!

How to make your own Chocolate Oobleck:

You will need:
2 cups of water
2 cups of cornflour (also known as corn starch)
2tbs cocoa

Method:
Begin by placing all your ingredients into a shallow container.
Mix well.
Store in an airtight container.

It's that easy!

Now for the fun part…

Would you call this recipe and activity a success or a fail? Would you try this recipe or have you tried another? We want to see! You can share pictures to Facebook, Instagram, Twitter or Google+. Tag your pictures with #ilovesensorydough.

 Be sure to check out each blogger, as we will each provide a different take on the dough, some of us with have the BEST recipe ever, while others will show you our attempts (both failed and successful).

Harvest Oobleck | Peakle Pie

Oobleck in the Marble Run Sensory Play | Sugar Aunts

Pumpkin Spice Oobleck | FSPDT

Apple Cinnamon Oobleck | Study at Home Mama

Chocolate Dinosaur Oobleck | Squiggles and Bubbles

For more activities like this check out my new book Learn with Play. It’s a collaborative work, written by myself and 93 other amazing bloggers, mothers, teachers and early childhood educators. The e-book comes with links to over 300 activities!

 
Please always supervise your infant/child at play.  Please stay within arms reach and never leave infants/children unattended.  You know you're infant/child best, use your own judgement-considering your infant/child's temperament, habits, behaviour and development before you play with a new play medium.