Wednesday, May 21, 2014

Lego Movie Surprise, Corn Starch Oobleck Lego Dig



My youngest three (ages 7-11), who didn't get to see The Lego Movie while it was in theaters, have been counting down the days until it's released to DVD. I saw that it was going to release early on Amazon Instant View, and decided to pre-order it without telling them.  Instead, I put together a few Lego themed crafts, and snacks to subtly hint at the coming surprise.

The movie came out yesterday, so in the morning I had special dino-digs ready for them.  I mixed up cornstarch and water Oobleck, like I have in the past for fossil finds, but placed Lego minifigures into the goo, instead of dinosaur bones.


I didn't have time to spend trying to work the Lego pieces (which float) down into the goo as it hardened, so instead I filled the small cups I was using as molds, just over halfway with the liquidy mixture, plopped the Lego pieces in - one minifigure's worth per cup, and covered them up with dry cornstarch...


...smoothing it down with a spoon, so it would mix enough with the liquid to become part of it, while still staying solid enough to keep the Lego pieces from floating back to the top.

 

 As usual, I let the oobleck dry overnight, before popping the digs out of the cups, to present to the children with knitting needle "digging tools" and small paint brushes.


I didn't add any sand to the cornstarch this time.  Sometimes I not only add sand but also corn syrup, baking soda and vinegar, using a recipe for homemade watercolor paint minus the coloring. I didn't want to risk adding anything this time that might remove paint from the Lego men.  Just cornstarch and water alone worked fine, but it did make for a crumblier (much easier) dig.


For a couple of our digs, I let the children use a water filled squirt bottle to free the Lego pieces...


...by turning the solid cornstarch partway back into oobleck.


That was so much fun, that it wasn't long before...


...all the newly freed minifigures were back in the goo...


 ...and once again...


...in need of rescue.

4 comments:

Allison @ All for the Boys said...

So much fun! Great idea

Unknown said...

We are going to watch the Lego movie soon- we will have to incorporate this activity into our fun!

Ticia said...

I always forget about this as an activity, I really should do it more often.

Natalie PlanetSmarty said...

Terrific idea. Did they guess their surprise?