Dragons and Goo

We had some friends over to play this morning...very impromptu.  Sometimes that the best way to get together.  Advance plans inevitably fail.  And making said advance plans sometimes takes forever. Spur of the moment get togethers sometimes work best when you are corralling multiple kiddos.  So I was thrilled when we both said "yes" this morning!  Bridget is a good friend from college...one of my senior roommates too!  Both of us are from Alabama and are husbands are from Alabama too.  Yet, here we are all in Chapel Hill.  Small world.  But it feels like having a little bit of family here even though all of our parents/grandparents are far away.   

Anyhow.  The weather was fantastic today.  Cloudy and high 70s.  That's right.  70s.  In July.  What???  No complaints here...just enjoyed the cool air in the middle of summer!
We took a stroll to one of our neighborhood playgrounds and got right to work coloring the dragon.  What else do you do at a playground? 



He? She? looked very nice when they were all done. It must have been a "she" as Anna did a great job adding eyeshadow, toenail polish, and lipstick.

They worked hard drawing ladders up and down our sidewalk too. It was cute to see them "climb" the ladders after they drew them.



Next up...science experiment time! Thank you dollar section at Target for the wonderful and inexpensive summer workbooks. We LOVE them. Today we made GOO. Here are the ingredients:

1 cup Cornstarch
1/2 cup Water
1-2 drops gel food coloring

Mix the above together by hand and you have Goo!

We made red goo...



Green and yellow goo...



And blue goo!



The kids worked on their goo for over 30 minutes. I call that a successful project! We would add a little more cornstarch. Then add a little more water. And repeat.



It did leave a pretty good mess afterwards...



But it was easy to clean with warm water and a good Clorox wipe at the end.

And we were able to save some of the goo for more fun later. Perhaps we will just do some sensory play in the bag the next go 'round.



If you try this at home, let me give one warning. The blue goo is pretty. But not only do you end up with blue goo. You also get blue hands. Anyone know how long food coloring sticks around?



And this sweet girl wanted some goo action too...but settled for some smiles and snoozes in her car seat.



Thankful for a fun impromptu morning with dear friends!