Gloop Goop for Kids! Sticky and Fun Activity on the Cheap!

Aside from baking in the kitchen, why not make a little mess and have fun with the kids? Here is a cheap and quick activity to whip up that can be perfect for play dates with your toddler, a rainy day activity, or a ‘stay inside’ because it is too blisteringly hot outside for the kids to play – making goop!

How to make it educational?
Making goop is a great scientific experiment. Kids are fascinated to see three ingredients that when mixed together behave completely different than either one of them did by itself.

Mix up a bowl of Gloop Goop, a mysterious matter that kids can shape into balls or let ooze from their fingers.

VISIT OUR LE TOP HOME…
www.letop-usa.com

Simple Recipe of Gloop Goop – Here’s how:
* Pour one cup water into a large mixing bowl.
* Add a few drops of food coloring (any color).
* Slowly stir in two cups of cornstarch (use a spoon at first, but you may eventually find it’s easier with your hands).

Goop Recipe
This goop recipe is a little more involved than the first one and since it uses borax, you should caution the kids to be careful when handling it.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 tablespoon of white craft glue
• 
1 ½ teaspoons of borax
• 2 paper cups 
water
• Food coloring (optional)

DIRECTIONS:

1. Pour the glue in one of the paper cups. Add a tablespoon of water and stir until the two are mixed well.
2. For different colors of goop, add a few drops of food coloring to the glue and water mixture before moving to the next step.
3. Mix the borax with four tablespoons of water in the second paper cup. Add one tablespoon of this mixture to the glue and water mixture in the first paper cup. If the glue mixture doesn’t turn into a gel, add another tablespoon of the borax mixture to it.
4. Take the gel out of the paper cup and roll it with your hands until it firms up a little. The goop is ready to play with.
5. Make sure the kids wash their hands when they are done playing with the goop.

Note: The borax goop experiment is also a good exercise in following directions. The goop won’t turn out right, if they do not follow the recipe exactly.

Give this a try! It may get a little messy, but that’s what makes it fun and interesting for your kids. What kid doesn’t like something icky, sticky and goopy that they can squish between their fingers?

Read Full Post »

Earth Day Today

What are your Earth Day plans with the kids? Planting a garden, a tree, a windowsill herb “garden” (for those apt./condo dwellers)? Even babies can get involved because remember, babies know dirt! I hope the White House garden that Michelle Obama planted with area kids might get some attention today from kids from another D.C. elementary school. Happy Earth Day!

Read Full Post »

Rowing the Atlantic in Memory of Mom

Paul Ridley, age 25, is 79 days into his solo, unsupported, trans-Atlantic journey in a yellow, 19′, 400lb row boat named ‘Liv’ – in memory of his mother, Katherine Ridley, who died of skin cancer in 2001. Inspired by his mom’s adventurous nature and with his newfound passion for cancer research fund-raising, Paul’s goals are to become only the 3rd and youngest person to ever row across an ocean, and in doing so, raise $500,000 for cancer research at the Yale Cancer Center. He set off  in early January in the Canary Islands (off Morocco) and has been putting in 8 to 13+ hours a day at the oars. The entire journey will require him to row more than 3000 nautical miles. He’s closing in on his goal and, weather permitting, is scheduled to pull into Antigua (in the Caribbean) at the end of March.

After seeing a few pictures of Paul, you might ask yourself why a person with a fair complexion and his mother’s battle with skin cancer would undertake such a long, grueling trip and – among all the other inherent risks – expose himself to so much sun? Well, Paul’s got plenty of sunblock, and for you apparel lovers out there – special ‘threads’ that block UV rays. Yup, science and technology is at work in apparel, too!

Did I mention Paul is undertaking this physical and mental challenge completely unsupported? That blows my mind! No sail, no motor, no support crew to bail him out if things turn ugly (which, hopefully, they won’t). This really hits me when I think about what it must be like out there, day after day – with no signs of human life – except for the 2 passenger planes Paul spotted up around 40,000′, the ocean liner that ‘brushed by’ (2 miles away), and yesterday, a bug landed on his deck (a sign that land is near)! He gets all giddy about such sightings.
Paul’s daily posts often focus on the interesting marine life he encounters, the physical and mental challenges he faces, his emotional ups and downs, his progress, what motivates him, and the ever-changing weather conditions. One of my favorite posts (from day 59) includes a description of how dramatic and dominating the constellations appear when viewed from a tiny row boat in the middle of the ocean.

As a tech-nut, I’m also amazed at Paul’s ability to stay in daily communication (via a solar powered satellite phone) with his support organization, Row for Hope, back in Connecticut. The information he relays immediately makes its way to the Web, into his blog, and even into his new Twitter page. Very cool. Here’s a guy out in the middle of the ocean – completely on his own – whose daily thoughts and reports are readily available to anyone around the world connected by computer (or even mobile phone!) to the Internet. Internet marketers/le•top e-tailers – are you listening? More on easily using some of these powerful technologies (to reach your target audience) is coming in future tech posts, so stay tuned!

Meanwhile, check out Paul’s Website and monitor his progress – it’s a fun, educational and inspiring thing to do with your kids. Also, please consider making a donation if you can. Due to the economic downturn impacting us all, Paul is falling short of his fund-raising goals – he could really use our assistance.

Read Full Post »