Pumpkin Spice Latte Oobleck

I love pumpkin spice lattes, and my boys love Oobleck.  Sensory play meets mama's favorite fall treat in this fall play recipe!

Fall Recipe for Play - Pumpkin Spice Latte Oobleck

We are back for day four of our Fall Recipes for Play series.   Monday - Playdough, Tuesday - Paint, Wednesday - Glowing, Thursday - Scented Play, and Friday - Nature.  Today we having a fun scented fall recipe for play.  The theme of the day is fall scents.  I don't know about you, but when I think of fall the first scent that comes to mind is a pumpkin spice latte from Starbucks.  If you don't drink coffee you probably can't relate, but for most of us who love coffee, Starbucks pumpkin spice lattes mark the start of fall.  I wanted to incorporate the scent of a pumpkin spice latte into our play, and after toying with a few ideas I knew that Oobleck would work well.

How to Make Pumpkin Spice Latte Oobleck

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Supplies:

• cornstarch
• water
• coffee
• pumpkin pie spice
• brown liquid watercolor paint (optional)

Directions:  Oobleck is made by combining equal parts of water and cornstarch.  To make our pumpkin spice latte Oobleck I used watered down coffee, leftover from my morning pot.  It was warm but not hot.  I watered it down quite a bit.  I set up an invitation for my boys to mix their own Oobleck lattes with cornstarch "cream" in one mug and the watered down coffee in another.

The boys loved mixing their own lattes!  One word of advice is to add the water (or coffee) sparingly.  Watery Oobleck will not be thick enough to be a solid.  The cool factor of Oobleck is that it is both a liquid and a solid.  You can scoop up a handful, and almost immediately it runs out between your fingers.  Add water slowly to ensure the texture is thick enough.

Tank and Peanut (25 months) generously sprinkled the pumpkin pie spice into the Oobleck mixture, and everyone got to work mixing with their hands.

As the coffee and spice blended into the cornstarch the color faded, so we added some brown liquid watercolor paint.  We have actually made this Oobleck twice, and we only added the paint the second time.  Both ways were wonderful.  If you have the paint, add a bit, but don't sweat it if you don't.

The second time we made Oobleck lattes my boys truly got into it.  JZ (6) played in it the longest.  Of course when he stuck his feet into the mixture his baby brothers had to climb in too. 

Long after everyone else got washed up JZ sat on the edge of the bin, mesmerized by the Oobleck.  The smell was incredible, like a real pumpkin spice latte.

The first time we made it I packed everyone in the car and drove to Starbucks immediately after our play time.  The smell had me craving an actual latte.

Tank surprised me by coming back to the Oobleck after JZ was done.  Tank usually doesn't spend a lot of time with our sensory bins.  After today I'm wondering if he just wants them to himself.

Without his brothers he was free to play and explore in his own timing.

I shouldn't be too surprised.  He is always trying to sneak tastes of my lattes.

For more fall recipes for play follow me on Pinterest.

Be sure and visit these other fantastic sites to see their scented play, and come back each day this week for more fall recipes for play!

Scented Tea Pretend Play from Fun at Home with Kids

Homemade Scented Candles from Blog Me Mom

Erupting Fall Playdough from Housing a Forest

More fall recipes for play:

Fall Sticky Paint Recipe ~ Fall Playdough Recipe ~ Erupting Apple Sidewalk Chalk