Frozen Summer fun with Lemon Oobleck

Frozen Lemon Oobleck Recipe for Play

Making Oobleck is an incredibly fun sensory activity, and frozen Oobleck is perfect for summer fun.  It is inexpensive and easy to make.  A few of our favorite ways to play with Oobleck include mixing in the play pool, glowing Oobleck and making Oobleck with real watermelon.  Because our chilly watermelon Oobleck kept us cool on a hot summer day I wanted to recreate the activity with a couple simple twists.  This frozen lemon Oobleck is a whole new recipe for play!

How to Make Frozen Lemon Oobleck

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Supplies:

• 2 lemons
• water
• cornstarch
• yellow food coloring
• Vitamix or blender
• sensory bin or container

Directions:  I cut the ends off of each of the lemons and placed them in the Vitamix.  If using a standard blender I recommend peeling the lemon as well.  I added roughly 1.5 cups of water and some yellow food coloring.  The food coloring is optional.  I really wanted the Oobleck to be a pretty yellow.  The lemon alone will not color the Oobleck enough since the cornstarch really dilutes the color.  Lemon juice may be substituted or even lemon Kool Aid, but there is nothing quite like that fresh lemon smell!

I added about half of the 16oz. container of cornstarch to the Vitamix and blended the ingredients on high for just a few seconds until the lemons were pureed.  Then I turned the Vitamix to a low speed and slowly added the rest of the cornstarch.  Once the mixture was the consistency of Oobleck I added a few handfuls of ice to the Vitamix.

I turned the Vitamix to high and let it fun for about 30 seconds or until the Oobleck had the consistency of a slushie.  

I poured it into a sensory bin and took it outside to our picnic table, inviting the boys to join me.

I highly recommend making frozen Oobleck on a hot day, as it is really chilly!

The lemons were more for the photos than anything else, but Peanut (24 months) was impressed at how they splattered the Oobleck when he dropped them into the bin.  Tank, his twin brother, did not like getting sprayed and lost interest quickly.

At first the frozen Oobleck was a bit too cold for Peanut, so he grabbed a measuring spoon from our sensory table to scoop it up.

JZ (6) loves Oobleck and inspected the frozen Oobleck with curiosity.

He was intrigued, but he complained that it made his hands cold.

As JZ and Peanut explored the icy texture and played with the lemon Oobleck, it began to melt a bit becoming more watery.  I gave Peanut another can of cornstarch to add to the bin to thicken up the mixture.

Together we slowly combined the lemon Oobleck with the added cornstarch.

Peanut mixed the cornstarch in little by little and also really enjoyed digging in the cornstarch alone.

He cautiously dipped his fingers into the chilly lemon mixture.  He was very intrigued.  Although he has played with Oobleck many times, this was the first time he really let it drip off his hands.  It was as if he noticed the solid to liquid state of this fluid for the first time.

He grabbed a handful and tasted the lemon Oobleck.

I don't think he was a fan, but he didn't seem too bothered by it.

Once completely combined, the texture and the smell of the lemon Oobleck was absolutely marvelous.  I must admit I played in it longer than any of my boys.

For more summer fun recipes for play follow me on Pinterest.

More ideas for frozen summer fun:

Frozen Smoothie Paint Recipe ~ Whole Foods Snow Cone Recipe ~ Color Mixing with Frozen Watercolors