Saturday, November 6, 2010

Cornstarch Quicksand

For lack of a relevant science experiment, the kids and I recently made cornstarch quicksand. (Recently being some weeks ago now.) You can make your own, too. Read about it here.

It's amazing. Scoop it up with a spoon and it slowly looses cohesion and glops back down into the bowl. Very entertaining. We talked a little about the molecules, but mostly we just played. I think non-Newtonian fluids are a little beyond first graders and preschoolers.



We sank some rocks from the rock collection. Over and over again.


Kansas Dad thought we should send a Lego man to his doom in the quicksand, but our guy must have read The Quicksand Book because he flopped right onto his back and floated. You'd need something heavier.


I would recommend newspaper underneath all the quicksand fun, though. Spread out quite far. We ended up with splotches of cornstarch quicksand all over the dining area of the kitchen. Newspaper would have made cleaning up a lot easier.