Learning about Volcanoes is always a fun subject to delve into and we did a few projects to go along with it, including the ever so popular baking soda Volcano (even though it doesn't really show how a volcano works but I had to include it for Forrest's sake). We had a go at making a Volcanic mountain using glue to demonstrate how new land is formed, we also read another Magic Treehouse book: Vacation Under The Volcano which inspired Nixie to learn more about Pompeii and then she wanted to make her own Pompeii model. We also included some baking and made some volcano cupcakes and finished it off with creating some Volcano art. 

Building a Volcanic Mountain with Glue

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what you will need:

  • Clay
  • white glue
  • red & yellow food colouring
  • plate
  • baking sheet

How to do it:

  1. Make a simple volcano shape with some clay with a hole at the top
  2. add food colouring to your glue until it is the colour of lava and then put it into a little plastic bag 
  3. put the bag inside the volcano and squeeze the glue so that it mimics a lava flow and then wait for the layer to dry
  4. continue building up the layers each time waiting for it to dry
  5. this didn't have the best success in how it looked but it did get the point across of how a volcano works and both Nixie & Forrest had fun with it. 

Pompeii Diorama

I love how this project was just created by Nixie after having read a Magic Treehouse book: Vacation Under The Volcano, she really loves this series and there are so many that tie in with our earth studies. Also it was the perfect scene to place the Volcano we made above.

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Classic Vinegar Volcano

so I know this experiment really has nothing to do with how a volcano works but there was no way I was leaving it out as it was Forrest's first time experiencing it and I don't think he could have loved it more!

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what you will need:

  • washing up liquid
  • warm water
  • white vinegar
  • small plastic bottle
  • container for your volcano
  • red food colouring
  • funnel
  • baking soda
  • plasticine or playdough

How to do it:

  1. Fill your bottle with 2/3 warm water and red food colouring using the funnel
  2. Add a small amount of washing up liquid along with 2-4 tbsp of baking soda, give it a gentle stir.
  3. Now add the vinegar and prepare for an explosion! 

 

Volcano Cupcakes

No matter what topic we are learning about I always try to include something edible and these cupcakes were perfect and so incredible easy to do. Just make your favourite cupcake recipe and once they are cooled, cut a hole at the top and make some lava icing and spread it down the sides and add a sparkler and enjoy! 

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Volcano Splat Painting

This was super easy and super messy and the kids loved it. I always love a bit of process art. To make it super simple I already cut out a volcano shape and glued it onto their paper so all they had to do was create the explosion. 

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what you will need:

  • Washing up Bristle Brush
  • Paint
  • Plastic Knife
  • Paper

How to do it:

  1. All you need to do is dip your brush into the paint and use your knife to splatter it! Have fun trying different ways to do this. Be prepared for paint to splatter everywhere!

Make a paper volcano and label it

We also made this super simple Volcano using just cut out pieces of paper and then Nixie had fun labelling it.

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