Goop-Pud Gone Wild

One day last week, we invited a friend over to experiment with two recipes:  Goop (with a recipe found here) and Pud from Bonnie Arwine's wonderful book, Starting Sensory Integration. (More about that book here.)

Before our friend came over, we prepared by writing the two recipes on our outdoor easel; setting out cornstarch, water, measuring cups, mixing pans and spoons; making up a washing table with two tubs of water, some soap in dish and a towel; putting out a few dino props to encourage play for our sometimes tactile defensive boys (both Luke and his friend) and, of course, changing into clothes that could get messy.  That done, we were all set for a messy, fun activity!  (Little did we imagine just how messy and fun it would get!)

No sooner did our friend arrive, than did we all get straight to our exploration.  Following the recipes, the kids negotiated who would be the corn starch measurer, the water measurer and the mixture stirrer.

Then, once we got the okay from our friend's mom, I ran in to get some food coloring and we dyed our goop red and out pud blue.

Nina started digging right into both, while the boys remained reluctant to put their hands in.  So, I joined in, making a big deal about asking Nina about how each mixture felt and commenting how cool it was how they looked so wet, but seemed to feel more hard and powdery when rubbed between fingers.  Soon, the boys began to get into the tactile fun a bit more, using the dinos and agreeing that we should mix the Goop and Pud together.

So, we predicted what would happen (color change and texture change) and went to it.  Within minutes, the fun really began!  Hands in!  Dinos in!  Even, upon the kids' request, ingredients to adjust the texture in!

The kids were so excited by their Goop-Pud mixture.  They began circling the table to dig into it at different angles.  And, it was at this point, I was soooo thankful that we had chosen to try these recipes out outside, because the mixture started dripping off their hands onto the deck!  Plus, silly me, had put the washing table too far from the playing one.  So, every time the kids went to clean a dino or their hands a bit, the deck got a little more decorated!

To save a bit of clean up (or so we thought),  the kids helped us move the playing table a bit closer to the washing one and, then, extended their play to include more hand dipping -- thoroughly enjoying all the tactile experiences of water, goop and pud!

The experimentation got a bit exuberant, with the kids noting how the goop-pud-water mixture made gooey string when lifted up.  And, before long, the kids asked if they could simply dump it on the deck.  why not?  We had deck cleaning to do anyway?

And, how about feet in?  Sure!

Who would have thought it would leave footprints in the mixture, but not really on the deck?  Cool!

So much laughter!  So much fun!  So much mess!  before long, it was time to clan up.  So, we secured safe place just inside the door for the camera, Jack (who had been happily snoozing on a corner of the deck) and our friend's shoes and, then, the kids tried some cleaning with rags and water from the washing bucket.  (We Moms knew that wouldn't work well, but it was fun and provided some good proprioception work!)

When the kids had used all the water from the clean up buckets, they asked for more, so we broke out the spray bottles.  (Think finger strength with those little fingers pinching the spray trigger!)  And, finally, with as much cleaned up that way as we could, Luke helped me take out the "big guns" -- we connected hoses together and sprayed the whole porch down. (Love that corn starch pretty much dissolves with lots of water.  Toys beneath the porch, however, did not love all the drippings that did not -- a fun toy wash awaits on another day!)

All the hose spraying had the kids giggling so hard, they didn't want the spraying to stop.  So, the activity ended with an all out spray bottle war!

Truly, it was a Goop-Pud gone wild afternoon, full of experimentation, sensory exploration and just plain old fun!

As we understand, our friend has already persuaded his mum to make goop again at home this week!

Now, we are wondering, what sensory fun have you had recently?  Any favorite recipes?  Do share!  And, for more play ideas, check out the We Play links at Childhood 101!  (And, by the way, thank you so much Amanda and Christie for honoring our post from last week with a special mention!)