Volcano Project

In Science this week, Olivia has been studying about rocks, land formations, and volcanoes.  In her text book, there was a fun make-your-own-volcano project and we figured we would give a whack at it!  So, we gathered up the supplies and off we went down our volcano building adventure!

Supplies needed: 1 large tray, 6 tablespoons baking soda, 1/2 cup vinegar, funnel, food coloring, paint brush, paint, watered down glue, small soda bottle, newspaper, rocks & dirt.  First we covered our tray with newspapers, then loaded the center with a pile of glue to help hold the bottle in place.

The soda bottle becomes the lava chamber, holding the baking soda until the vinegar is poured in and begins to "erupt".

Crumple up newspapers into balls (like Olivia is attempting to do quite forcefully =P) and pile them around the water bottle, adding more glue to the base to help keep them in place.  The bottle and balled up newspaper acts as a base to put the full sheets of newspaper onto.  

After the base is finished, take a full sheet of newspaper, rip a small hole out of the center, then drape it down over the mouth of the bottle to form a mountain.  Use the paint brushes and watered down glue to moisten the paper all around until it stays in place and takes shape.

Next, rip off and glue smaller pieces of news paper to the cone, working around it and further up to cover the sides of the soda bottle.

Now, after the volcano has been built, let it dry for a few hours before painting.  We used brown, green & blue paints to create dirt, grass and water features on our volcano.  Olivia really liked this part!

Adding colors...

And more colors...

Finally added streams, ponds, and lakes.

To finish it off, my wonderfully creative girl went outside and grabbed some rocks and sand from the sand box for some added detail!

And we were left with...can I get a drum rolls please?

TADA!!!

To get the ball rolling, we added 6 tablespoons of baking soda, with the help of a funnel, into the water bottle which you can see so cleverly hidden inside our mountain.

When you are ready for the eruption, simply add 6 or 7 drops of red food coloring to 1/2 cup of vinegar, pour into soda bottle with funnel, remove funnel and stand back for your display!!

The look on Olivia's face tells it all!

We even re-erupted our volcano several times and explained the chemical reactions to her whilst she was mystified!

So, to sum up the experience of building a volcano in science, I would say it was an A++!  We had a great time, my daughter got to explore her creativity, and it was wonderful time spent as a family.