Flubber and Other Sensory Ideas

I had the privilege of attending a conference this past weekend in Fort Frances, Ontario put on by Lisa Murphy, The Ooey Gooey Lady! What a blast! Not only did I laugh until I cried, but I learned lots of new ideas for my sensory tables and art areas of my classroom. When I came home, I was anxious to try out the new recipes so yesterday John and I made flubber....a sort of clay-like substance that is squishy and rubbery. Ooey Gooey Lady has the recipe on her website: Ooey Gooey Lady's Site
The first batch I made, I flubbed because I added the borax and water solution way too quickly to the glue and water mixture. You really need to allow time for the chemical reaction to happen. I didn't have any liquid watercolours, so we squeezed in one tube of really cheap water colour paint. I have some pictures from the conference as well as some pictures of my son playing with the flubber.




Ooey Gooey Fun!
 

Making liquid water colour drop paintings on large coffee filters!

Bubble wrap printmaking!

Magnetic marble painting!

 

Shaving cream on water. Drop primary colours and secondary colours form in water below!

Flubber Bubbles! Lots of fun!
 

The conference truly challenged me on some of my practices. Lisa encourages teachers to accept kids' art as is and not be tempted to cut their work or change it in anyway (i.e. make the coffee filter art into a butterfly or flower). She had excellent ideas for classroom management and I will always remember her motto to control the environment and not the child! I am looking forward to trying these new sensory ideas in my classroom this year! If you want a good laugh, look her up on you tube. She has lots of her funny stories online and it is good for a chuckle!