Our senses have been tingling this week in Quartz Room! We have delved into the world of exploring cause and effect though natural and scientific experiences. A few of the experiments we have tested out this week have been; mixing up cornstarch and water to create Ooblick (later we added in colours), creating cloud dough with cornstarch and shaving cream, painting with ice cubes, and put the finishing touches on our paper mâché rattles. Creating Ooblick and cloud Dough are prime examples of how cause and effect can become a relatable topic for a toddler. The ingredients are provided to the children in their original form and the children are encouraged to mix them up to see the result. With Ooblick you end up with a substance that doesn’t behave as a typical solid or liquid. Ooblick has the ability to move within the two states. If you pick up a piece of Ooblick and move it quickly in your hands it will maintain a solid state, however; if you allow it to rest in your hand it will start to melt and act as a liquid. This fluctuation between the two states has the ability to hold a child’s interest for an entire morning.
Children who have been observed playing at the Ooblick appear to mesmerized with it. They are seen digging it out with their hands and squeezing it into balls only to release it and watch it melt and flow through fingers. They enjoy using shovels and bowls to watch it slowly pour and drip out. A few of the children especially enjoy rubbing the Ooblick creation onto their arms and feeling in run all the way back down to the tips of their fingers. The children apply the ‘Cause’ to the Ooblick by either letting it melt in their hands or moving it quickly, the ‘Effect’ is presented immediately whether it remains more solid or it melts to a liquid. Cloud dough has a similar effect, although not to the same extent, as Ooblick. The children start off with loose ingredient that once combined transform into a mouldable material. When the children play with it in its combined form it has a silky, soft texture but once they start squeezing it and compacting it is their hands they are able to morph in into a more firm solid. Much to their enjoyment the children discovered it easily breakable and will transform back into the original combined form again only for them to be compacted back into a ball. Similar to the Ooblick, the children apply the ‘Cause’ and the material is transformed to display the ‘Effect’. It is amazing to see such a simple material like cornstarch become transformed into mesmerizing substances like Ooblick and Cloud Dough with basic additives. We are very excited to see what other materials (Cause) can be added to cornstarch and what the result (Effect) will be!