Sensory play makes kids go crazy excited. Pinching, crushing, pressing, grasping, squashing, squeezing – all perfect ways to strengthen their grip and finger muscles. Play-dough, goop, slime provide kids with hours of calm play and allow them to develop better concentration. Every childcare worker or parent will appreciate easy-to-make, inexpensive recipe with just a couple of ingredients. This is a perfect option for a rainy day activity. Making goop together with kids provides an opportunity to teach simple concepts of science and work on motor development. Making goop is a super easy, fun activity that requires only a few components – cornflour, water, bowl.
It is always fun to throw in a few craft objects into the bowl, or small toys/letters/numbers for the “I Spy” game.
Adding extra ingredients, such as essential oils, makes the sensory play even more beneficial for the child’s health and emotional state fills the house with a pleasant aroma. This time we chose to add some dried lavender blooms. Lavender has a calming effect, and lavender-scented goop is perfect for peaceful afternoon play.
It is a great idea also to add some extra colour to the goop using watercolour paint powder, food colouring, natural food colouring (for example, beetroot juice), or just acrylic paints.
We usually use a whole package of cornflour and add just a little bit of water at a time to make the desired consistency. Some prefer it to be more liquid; others prefer a more solid version of goop.
And don’t forget to pop on that painting shirt, because it will get messy.
Next time I plan to make orange-scented goop with a couple of drops of orange essential oil and add orange food colouring to the recipe. For Christmas Season, choose bright red /green/golden colours, add Christmas craft parts, and cinnamon scent. Hours of fun are guaranteed.
This is so fun! I like lavender scent and color and the consistency of the goop is so cool! I read about such idea for the first time and I relly like it. Let's get messy!
Thanks Katherine! Messy is FUN 🙂