Dreidel Ooblek

Get ready for some delightfully messy, ooey gooey Hanukkah sensory play with this easy and fun Dreidel Ooblek! My kids LOVE ooblek. It’s such an easy sensory material to create, but boy is it messy. That might just be half the fun 😉 Add some dreidels and plastic gelt and you have yourself a wonderful Hanukkah sensory activity that will captivate kids (and adults!) of all ages!

What You’ll Need

Cornstarch
Water
Blue food coloring
Bowl
Spoon
Sensory tray or bin
Plastic dreidels
Plastic gelt

Putting It Together

Make your ooblek by combining the cornstarch and dyed blue water in a 2:1 ratio. I used this Busy Toddler recipe.
Pour the ooblek into your sensory tray or bin.
Add plastic dreidel and gelt.
Invite your children over, sit back and watch the happy magic take place!
*This is a MESSY activity! If you have a cement patio, do it outside so you can just spray it all down afterwards. If you’re like us and needed to do it inside, cover your surface with art towels and be ready with extra towels for hands to make a trip to the bathroom to wash hands.

Finished & Loving It!

As soon as I invited my kids over to the coffee table where I had set up the activity, squeals echoed throughout the house. My kids LOVE ooblek! We have definitely done it before but it is not something we do every day. It’s messy and yes, hands get stained until there’s been multiple washes. But the infrequency of this activity makes it all the more special when it does happen.

The set up is so crazy simple–mix the cornstarch and dyed water to make your ooblek and then add the gelt and dreidels. The kids loved prying the dreidels and gelt out of the ooblek. And ooblek is really just so amazing. It will feel liquidy and soft one second but hard and challenging another. The kids had to work to get the items out and they absolutely loved it.

It was amazing to just hang out and watch their glee. They loved picking up globs and letting it turn to liquid running through their fingers. Such an amazing substance! And so much amazing sensory feedback. All three of them were shoulder to shoulder enjoying playing for a really long time.

Despite the mess it’s not hard to clean up. The plastic dreidels and gelt wash off easily, as does the tray. The towels get thrown into the washer. It’s those sweet, amazing, beloved child hands that stay blue for awhile. The kids laughed about it and pretended to be zombies so they weren’t too concerned.

We’ve done Jewish-themed ooblek activities numerous times before. You can really customize it with whatever theme speaks to you. Our previous Hanukkah one I froze ooblek for the first time which really does harden it so that it turns into an excavation experience. So fun! If you wanted, you could save the ooblek from this activity after the kids are finished for the day, plop it in the freeezer and then bring it out for a new activity! I am sure the kids will be enthralled and would love to dig and excavate those dreidels and gelt!

If your house is like mine, there’s been lots of asking and counting down to Hanukkah. Singing and dancing too (check out our YouTube playlist!). I love their enthusiasm and excitement. And boy do I love the season of light and hope! Bring on those miracles!