“Oh Susan, ever since you were a little baby I knew…you know, that you would save the world from an invasion from outer space.”  ~Wendy Murphy, Monsters vs Aliens

The time comes for almost every toy. The time when no one really wants to play with it anymore. It gets left on the shelf, overlooked, and then finally put into storage. Well, this time had come for our bristle blocks. They just sat in the toy bin watching all the other types of blocks and toys being played with. So I took matters into my own hands and instead of locking them away, so to speak, I gave them a new purpose. They would become the alien props in a slimy landscape that no child could resist!

I’m pretty sure most of you out there have heard of “ooblek” and a lot of you have probably made it from time to time. Well, it’s a favourite in my house, and I figured it would be the best alien landscape…so slimey and gloopy. If you have never made it, here is how you go about it…

You will need 1 part water to 1.5-2 parts cornstarch, and some food colouring of your choice. Put the desired amount of cornstarch in your bin and add the water, starting with the 1.5 parts first. You can always add more water if you need it. I usually stir it up with a big spoon until it’s the right consistency before I add the food colouring. The food colouring is fun to watch swirling and mixing into the ooblek, like this…

You’ll know you have the right consistency when the ooblek remains in a solid state when held, but loosens into slime when released. The best way to know, is to try scratching your fingers through it and seeing if the bottom of the bin shows through, like this…

When it’s picked up it will look like this…

And when the children let go, it should goop out of their fingers like this…

Now that we had the right consistency, we added our poor little neglected bristle blocks! Oh, and the imaginations ran wild. They built alien ships, they poured slime on the evil aliens, and they make alien footprints with the bristles.

Even the toddlers got involved…

And did I mention how easy it is to clean up ooblek? It rinses right off with water! So, Mumma’s happy, kids are happy, and the bristle blocks are happy.

Which toys in your home could find a purpose in slime?

Today is also link-up time with Kid’s Weekly Co-op, so go ahead and share your neat ideas for young children on the link below. The link will run until next Thursday! Once you’ve shared, go ahead and grab the Co-Op button and link your page back to the party!! And don’t forget to take some time to browse in the ideas of others.

Thanks for stopping by!