Awesome Volcano Experiment for Kids

Kaboom! Bang! Whooooooah!

I can't begin to tell you how excited I was to do this experiment with my boys this week in our homeschool. Making a volcano is one of those science projects that I have always wanted to do with the kids and it was so much fun!

This volcano experiment is so simple and you with probably have everything you need already in your home. 

If you are interested in how we made our Erupting Volcano, please keep reading!

Since a young age, my boys have been obsessed with dinosaurs. So much so, that it had taken over my house. Dinosaur toys, stickers, books, bed sheets....it was driving me CRAZY! 

Thankfully, this interest has now evolved into an interest in fossils, geology and volcanoes.

As I try to encourage the kids to explore their interests, we decided to make this a part of our homeschool, doing an experiment/project on this topic, once a week.

We have been using the book Rock & Fossil Hunter for our experiments, It's full of different activities that kids can do, using materials that you can easily find in the house. 

This blog post will look at the first two experiments: 

- The Erupting Volcano
- On the Lava Trail

Check out this VIDEO we made of our experiments:

As you can tell, they had so much fun doing these activities! I'm sure your kids will too!

Awesome Volcano Experiment

Materials Needed:

Small plastic water bottle
Water
Measuring jug
Tray
Sand
Dessertspoon
Bicarbonate of soda
Red Food Colouring
Washing-up liquid
Vinegar

1. Place the bottle in the middle of the tray, and pile up the sand around it, to look like a volcano. If the sand is not sticking, dampen it a bit to help it hold in place. The decorate the outside of the volcano however you like...obviously in my home that meant with dinosaurs!
   
2. Pour enough warm water into the jug to fill the bottle 2/3 full. Then add 2 dessert spoons of bicarb, 1 dessert spoon of food colouring, 1 dessert spoon of washing-up liquid to the jug.
   
3. Pour this mixture into the bottle.
4. Then get ready for the eruption.....it will happen quickly!!!

       Pour 100ml of vinegar into the bottle and jump back!

Don't worry, it's not explosive....just very foamy! Perfectly safe for little kids!

This could also work for a chemistry experiment if you have older kids. It's a simple acid-base reaction.

Why are volcanoes different shapes?

This is the second experiment from the book Rock & Fossil Hunter.

It aims to illustrate how the temperature of lava affects its flow and the ultimate shape of the volcano. 

The cooler the lava, the slower it flows, resulting in conical volcanoes. 

The hotter the lava, the faster it flows, leading to flatter (shield) volcanoes.

Materials Needed:

2 tins of treacle

2 plates

Heat-proof pan

Boiling water

1. Put once tin of treacle in the fridge overnight.
   
2. Put the other tin into the heat-proof pan, and surround it in boiling water. Leave it to warm up the treacle for thirty minutes. 
3. Open both tins, and pour onto separate plates. 

   

   Cold Lava

   
   

   

   Hot Lava

You should find the cold treacle piles up on the plate, like viscous cool lava would.

The hotter treacle will spread out to form a wider puddle, like runny lava.

Both of these experiments should be done under the supervision of an adult and are suitable for child aged 4+.

Are your children interested in volcanoes? 
What volcano activities have you done with them?
If you have any great resources on the subject, or if you have written a blog post on the topic, please share it in the comments below.

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In need of your duaas.

Peace and Love.