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My friend Emily first piqued my interest in glowing when she posted about her family's blacklight dinner back in 2011.  At the time, I'd thought that S would be too young to really enjoy the glowing.  Emily's son was almost 4 at the time, so I sort of mentally filed glowing activities away for when S was around 4.


I've seen various methods to make things glow, but I really loved how Emily used tonic water.  We were actually messing around with another post I'll share with you next week when I wondered -- could make Glowing Oobleck with tonic water?


Yep.


Why Oobleck?  Well because it's X's absolute favorite.  And I thought I'd see if he wanted to play with us.


At first he was just STUNNED that things were glowing.  But then he started playing.


 S and I were grabbing handfuls of the Glowing Oobleck and letting it drip from our hands and X was SOOOOEXCITED!!!!!!


Hahaha, these photos are totally blurry, but his little excited face is tooooo cute.


He LOVED it.


I dripped more from way up high and S caught it in her hands while X watched.


Then we dripped some on his legs and feet.  :)


Whooooa.  How cool is this, right?  


And just like regular oobleck, it's still soooo fun to squish.

This post contains affiliate links for your convenience.

Our Glowing Oobleck Recipe:

**Please note that while edible, I would not encourage this activity with children who are likely to ingest large amounts.  Neither cornstarch nor tonic water with quinine are things I would recommend a child eat directly.**

1 16oz box of cornstarch (this is called cornflour in the UK)
2 cups Tonic Water with Quinine (you could also substitute our Safe Edible Glow Water for tonic water)

Mix the cornstarch with tonic water until it's smooth.  If there isn't enough "give" to the cornstarch and it is not dripping from your fingers like it is in these photos, add a tablespoon more tonic water at a time.  If it is too runny and does not make dramatic ribbons or hold together when you squeeze it with your hand, add more cornstarch a tablespoon at a time.

For more glowing fun, check out our other posts that glow:




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All activities here are activities I feel are safe for my own children.  As your child's parents/guardians, you will need to decide what you feel is safe for your family.  I always encourage contacting your child's pediatrician for guidance if you are not sure about the safety/age appropriateness of an activity. All activities on this blog are intended to be performed with adult supervision.  Appropriate and reasonable caution should be used when activities call for the use of materials that could potentially be harmful, such as scissors, or items that could present a choking risk (small items), or a drowning risk (water activities), and with introducing a new food/ingredient to a child (allergies).  Observe caution and safety at all times.  The author and blog disclaim liability for any damage, mishap, or injury that may occur from engaging in any of these activities on this blog.

Comments

  1. I'm so obsessed by your activities - you are costing me so much money ;-)

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  2. Oh my. Forget the kids - I'm going to make a batch for myself. :)

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  3. I love that one photo where the hands are holding a glowing heart shape! This looks so fun... and now I have to go research how it glows. :)

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    1. Me too, Lyn! Isn't it gorgeous? It's the quinine (from the cinchona tree) that fluoresces. It's an ingredient in most tonic waters. :)

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    2. Interesting! My husband is sold... we are putting a black light on our shopping list. :)

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    3. Awesome, Lyn! I hope you all enjoy it as much as we have! Glowing things are so pretty!

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  4. This is so much fun! I saw your entry on No Time for Flashcards. Thanks for sharing! I'm going to poke around for more cool ideas to keep my girls busy with!

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    1. It was so crazy fun, Adora! I was actually surprised by how much fun it was glowing!!! Thanks for hopping over from No Time For Flashcards to check us out! :) :) :)

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  5. Is X wearing a Naarjtie Kids outfit?! He's so cute and I want to try this. Need to find a black light!

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    1. Hahaha - good eye, Sue! Yep! Love their baby boy stuff!!! I bet you can pick one up at a local store like Target - they're getting pretty popular!

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  6. HI! I'm wondering something...are all tonic waters and black lights created equal? After reading this post I went out and bought both post haste but was disappointed because our first batch of cornstarch goo wasn't fluorescing at all :( I held the bottle of tonic water up to the light and it did glow just the tiniest bit. I'm wondering if I don't have a high enough concentration of quinine or if the black light bulb I'm using isn't a "legit" black light...it's just a bulb you turn into a regular light fixture, not one of the ones with the on/off switch. Thoughts??

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    1. Hi Krista! Augh, what a bummer! I would suspect that it is the black light. So long as the tonic water says "with quinine" on it, it's a set amount that's the same in all of them - so it shouldn't be the tonic water. Did your teeth and white clothes fluoresce? If not, I'd definitely blame the black light. We and other readers have had the best success with the 2 foot tube lights. I suspect that the single bulbs just don't put off enough light to do as much. And a quick Google search tells me that yes, everyone thinks those single bulbs stink. A page devoted to all things glowing and blacklight run by a DJ said that less than 2% of the output of one of the regular looking bulbs is actually the right kind of light and he thinks that companies shouldn't even market them as blacklights because they are that weak. Sounds like he might be right! So sorry! And hopefully you will get awesome results with a taller tube light!

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    2. Excellent! Thank you...I really appreciate you doing some research on this for me! I'm off to go find a legit black light! Thanks again!

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    3. Hooray! Hopefully you'll be playing by the crazy glow of oobleck in no time! :)

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  7. Can you keep this once it's mixed up like store it and use it a different time if so how

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    1. It will mold unless you freeze it. But you could freeze and rethaw it a few times! Hope that helps.

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