How To: Make Quicksand at Home Using Cornstarch & Water

Creating awesomely messy slops of DIY slime and curdled fake blood isn't something new—we even have guides on making Dr. Seuss-friendly Oobleck and the radioactive green ooze that created my childhood favorite Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (minus the radioactive part, of course).

Kids and adults alike have been performing these slimy science experiments for decades using household materials. So let's add another one to the list of greats—DIY quicksand.

Making DIY Quicksand at Home

The ingredients couldn't be more simple. You'll need yellow food dye for the sandy color, cornstarch (cornflour), two cups of water, and a large bowl to mix it all in. Add all of the ingredients inside of your bowl and mix with your hands.

After some time you will see that the flour and water have mixed together creating a non-Newtonian fluid, or a fluid that acts differently depending on the amount of force applied. Applying hard force makes the quicksand act like a solid, while being gentle makes it act like a liquid.

If you've ever seen an old-school movie or cartoon with quicksand, you know the more force or struggle you make the harder it is to escape. The same thing applies with this experiment. Try placing a toy inside the quicksand and getting it out with speed and then without.

For the full guide, check out the walkthrough video below from HooplaKidzLab for the step-by-step instructions.

And make sure to check out all of our other DIY slime guides.