Make Sand Oobleck in 3 Steps

Materials you'll need

• Cornstarch
• Sand
• Water
• Large bowl
• Spoon
• Small decorative shells, charms, or beach trinkets (optional)

 

Step-by-step tutorial

Step 1: Pour 1/2 cup of cornstarch into a large bowl, then add 1/2 cup of sand. Stir them together until they're evenly mixed.

Step 2: Slowly pour in 1/3 cup of water and stir. Once it gets hard to stir with a spoon, use your hands to mix — keep going until there are no dry clumps left.

Step 3: If you'd like, press small shells or beach charms into the surface for decoration.

Learn more

Sand oobleck is a non-Newtonian fluid — a material that doesn't follow the normal rules of liquids. Most liquids always flow the same way, no matter how hard you push them. But with oobleck, cornstarch particles are suspended in water without dissolving. Squeeze or press quickly, and those particles jam together and trap water between them, making the whole mixture feel solid. Let go, and the particles slide apart again and it flows like liquid.