How to Build a Volcano at Home

Summer is the perfect time for fun learning activities at home. One of my all-time favorites is creating a kid-size volcano at your kitchen table!

Here’s how to get the fun – and the lava – flowing:

• First, take a look at Julie’s great recipe and video of how to create a volcano at home in her post on the Just Precious blog.
• Gather the supplies you’ll need:

• Volcano: poster board and/or clay to create the volcano and a small cup to hold the “lava” in the center of the volcano (see the Just Precious recipe for tips on how to build this)
• Lava: baking soda, vinegar, food coloring, measuring spoons
• A large container to catch the flowing lava before it runs onto your kitchen floor. If your kids are going for an epic-sized volcano, I highly recommend setting it off in the bathtub!

• Before the eruption, log on to the Discovery Kids’ Volcano Explorer site with your kids for an interactive look at real volcanoes around the world and how they work.
• Set it up and set it off! When the kids squeal with excitement and ask what happened, discuss the science of how it works – when baking soda and vinegar mix, they form a gas. As gas is released in the liquid vinegar, it forms bubbles, which make the liquid take up more space (or for older kids, “increase in volume”) and bubble out of the cup.
• After clean-up, your kids may want to visit the Virtual Volcano section of Discovery Kids’ Volcano Explorer site again, where they can apply their new understanding of how gas and liquid work together to push lava out of the volcano. Ask the kids to change the amount (or “pressure”) of gas and thickness (or “viscosity”) of the magma to see what happens!

Tried it out? Tried other fun learning activities at home? Share your tips & recipes below!