Mixing water and cornstarch makes the non-Newtonian substance known as oobleck. Students in all grades loved exploring the properties of it so much that they created Odes to Oobleck. These were read or performed for the class with a selection posted below. Check back soon for more.
Ode to Oobleck (to the tune of Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer) by M., grade 6
You know silly putty, paint, clay, and bouncy balls
Crayons, and markers, and tinker toys, and lighters
But do you know the most fun non-Newtonian substance of all?
Oobleck the messy batter (batter), how we love you so.
We love how you smell (smell) very much like bad milk.
Almost everything about you (about you) is fun in some sort of way.
From your white color (color) to your silky texture
Your thick and thin smooth like batter, tough and also watery
But when it’s time to wash you off, we do it all over again!
Oh oobleck, we love you so!
Ode to Oobleck by C., grade 6
When I rub my hands through your silky, white substance I feel a batter that is wacky. You are messy and fun, and crumbly when you go from powdery to gloppy, but white and smooth. I don’t like your texturing once you are dry and crusty, but I like how you can go thick to thin, when speeding up or slowing down the way I move my hands. You smell like spoiled milk and look like it too, but most of all I like the way you act like goo.
Oobleck by R., grade 6
A powder
smooth to the touch
and white
when mixed
with water
it morphs
into a
smooth
silky
mixture
and then
dies
quickly
in my hands.
Oobleck Oh Oobleck by C., grade 6
Just like its name,
constantly changing
never the same.
It’s silky, it’s milky, it’s smooth, and it’s hard.
It’s somewhat like a batter though not appetizing.
It could make me feel like my insides were rising.
Oobleck oh Oobleck oh
Oobleck oh Oobleck
Ode to Oobleck by T., grade 8
It’s ooey and gooey
It’s chunky and bunchy
Slimy and creamy
It’s hard to hold
It’s grimy and slimy
It’s icky and sticky
Oobleck, oobleck everywhere
On the table and on the chair
On my clothes and in my hair
Oobleck, oobleck everywhere
It’s fun to play with
With one or two
The only thing is
It makes a mess on you.
Ode to Oobleck by T., grade 8
Oobleck is chunky,
It’s white and it oozes.
It’s sticky and wet,
And hard to hold.
It’s fun when it’s wet,
While it oozes and gooses.
It gets hard when you squeeze it,
And soft when it sits.
Oobleck is slimy,
Creamy and light.
It glazes your hands,
And give you delight.
Oobleck is gooey,
And it taste kind of bad.
But I promise you this,
It’s totally rad.
Touching Oobleck is fun,
But making it is too.
‘Cus everything gets wet,
and your hands get covered in goo.
Oobleck by C., grade 8
Mushy gushy, chunky funky
Hard to hold and fold.
It’s sticky icky silky milky
It’s fun in the sun.
Powder just like clam chowder
Dry just like the sky
Sand but in it in my hand
It’s like bleach but at the beach
Ooze hard to choose
Hold it tight with a hint of fight
Rubbery, pretty dang flubbery
We’re writing an ode your gonna have to break the code
Goobery and oobery
Now to clean your hands and wash all away
Oobleck has to go today.
Oobleck Ode by E., grade 8
Quicksand upon your hand. She likes to watch the sun dry your skin. Rubbery, yet soft
He’s like a jelly raindrop-extremely hard to pin. Silky and smooth, but just when you think you’ve got him, he disappears, slips through your fingertips. Always hard to hold, it’s nothing new though. He seems to always be so cold. He’s like a vanishing cloud, white like liquid, always out of reach, until you squeeze his silky skin tight and for a while he stays. Until like liquid, a white crying cloud he runs so far away.
