Kid's Activity: How to Make Goop

Goop is a kid's activity that is a very easy and fun to make. It is inexpensive and provides hours of entertainment. Playing with goop also stimulates sensory perception, and helps to develop fine motor skills. The fascination with this kid's activity is that the consistency of the goop changes while you play with it. It will be very thick and dry looking in the bowl, and will become a slimy liquid when you play with it. It is fun to pull a handful of goop out of the bowl, and let it slide down through your hands and back into the bowl. Children (and adults) of all ages are fascinated with the qualities of goop in this kid's activity. Although goop is made from edible ingredients, it's not really made to eat. Very young children should be supervised carefully, and encouraged not to eat the goop.

To make goop for one child:

In a non-breakable bowl, mix together one-forth cup of water, one-half cup of corn starch, and a couple of drops of food coloring. Stir well with a wooden spoon. The mixture will become very thick.

For older children:

Instead of measuring the ingredients, pour some corn starch into a bowl and let the child add water. It's fun to mix this with your hands and see what happens. The child can add more corn starch or more water until you think the consistency is right. There really isn't any set way to make this... it's just fun experiment and play with it! Older children might also enjoy mixing colors of food coloring together to make new colors. This would be a great lesson on learning primary and secondary colors.

Before playing with the goop, be sure to set up an area that will be safe for this messy kid's activity. A cheap plastic table cloth, or plastic place mat works well. Even though this is a messy kid's activity, it does clean up pretty easily, so don't worry too much. The mixture will dry into a white powder (corn starch) and will wipe right up. It might leave a chalky looking residue, so you might have to wipe it up a couple of times.

When you are done playing with the goop, store it in an airtight container. You can keep it for about a week, and play with it often. If the goop is too dry when you open the container, just stir in a little more water until you get the right consistency.