My kids love sensory play, and especially non-messy sensory play, so I seized the opportunity to give Nickelodeon’s newly reformulated Gak and Floam a go. I remember both from my own childhood, and had actually owned the original Floam (Mike remembers playing with Gak).
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Sensory Play with Floam and Gak
The kids thoroughly enjoyed testing both products! They weren’t interested (so far, at least) in creating objects with Floam to dry and keep, but they enjoyed stretching and molding it, and they found the micro beads fascinating!
One note about the Floam: you have to prep it first, and for some reason the Rockin’ Red is incredibly messy. You can see evidence of this in both the container and on the mat. Blazin’ Blue and Electric Yellow weren’t nearly as messy during prep, and made no mess after prep. The red still turned things slightly red for an hour or so after prep.
As much as my kids liked Nickelodeon Floam, Gak was the clear winner in our house! They loved the way it stuck to their skin and would suspend in mid air – and it’s stretchability:
MaryAnne lives is a craft loving educator, musician, photographer, and writer who lives in Silicon Valley with her husband Mike and their four children.
Ohhh I love the look of both of them. Now will have to see if we can find the stuff in the UK
I hope you do find them – my kids think they’re great!
They look great, especially the Gak.
The red does look messy though.
Thanks for linking to Science Sparks. xx
I remember Gak! We have Floam, but it’s a different brand, I think. My daughter would LOVE the Gak! What fun they had!
We had Gak. It came in a cool star-ish container that was great for making fun gakky (ok, farting) noises. Floam wasn’t as popular in our house. This post brought back great, fun memories!
My kids prefer Gak over Floam, too.
Now I want to play with some! So great to see and hear you guys on video!
I have the cutest nieces and nephews ever :) <3
<3 They are really looking forward to seeing you this summer! So am I :D
We got floam (I think) 2 years ago as a birthday present. It’s been played with exactly once – it was rather messy! I love how Johnny copies Emma in the video :)
This is a new formula, and it is probably neater. The red was the only one I had any trouble with. I remember the version I played with as a kid being messy, though!
Yes, Johnny is quite the fan of his big sister :)
Floam looks like so much fun! What a great idea!
JDaniel would love it :)
Our kids are so much alike…my kids like gak…but no on the floam!
Too funny! We’ll have to get them all together for a play date, someday…
I remember silly putty!
Love the video, their reactions, and how you interact with them : ) & thanks for the warning about the red Floam! An idea for something to do on a rainy Saturday maybe : )
It’s a great rainy day activity! I’ve been amazed at how much the new textures have sparked their imaginations – all sorts of storytelling going on during play!
I agee with the kids…gak is the way to go!
I’ve never played with either, but they both look fun!
They are a lot of fun – and provide unique sensory experiences!
I’ve never seen either of them, but I bet Parker would love them!
I think he would have a blast with either one – Gak makes some pretty random noises, which he might particularly enjoy :)
Looks like they had fun with the floam and gak. I remember gak from when I was little.