Sunday, July 22, 2012

How to make a volcano with toddlers

Here's a great activity you can do with toddlers to keep them busy this summer! Make a volcano. It's cheap, simple, fun and educational! We made these volcano's at our Little Scientists Program the other month and the kids loved it. It's a great activity if you have a Hawaiian themed Luau party too!


To make your own Volcano you need:


  • Tray
  • Small empty baby food jar, small plastic pop bottle or a plastic cup
  • Brown play dough (homemade)
  • Baking soda
  • Vinegar
  • Red food colouring
  • Spoon/scoop
  • Measuring cup


Instructions:
  1. Place jar/cup on tray
  2. Surround the jar with play dough.
  3. Form dough to look like a mountain (keep the top open). If you prepare ahead of time you can paint the dough to make it look like a mountain.
  4. Put 4 drops of red food coloring in the jar.
  5. Add 2 tablespoons of baking soda to the jar.
  6. Finally, add some vinegar to it to make it erupt!





And be sure to have some Huggies Simply Clean Wipes on hand as it will get messy! 

Did You Know…..
  • The cool red lava is the result of a chemical reaction between the baking soda and vinegar.
  • In this reaction, carbon dioxide gas is produced, which is also present in real volcanoes.
  • In simple terms a volcano is a mountain that opens downward to a pool of molten rock (magma) below the surface of the earth. It is a hole in the Earth from which molten rock and gas erupt.
  • When magma erupts through the earth's surface it is called lava
    • Magma is liquid rock inside a volcano.
    • Lava is liquid rock (magma) that flows out of a volcano. Fresh lava ranges from 1,300° to 2,200° F (700° to 1,200° C) in temperature and glows red hot to white hot as it flows.
    • There are around 1510 'active' volcanoes in the world. We currently know of 80 or more that are under the oceans.
    • Over half of the world’s volcanoes arise in a belt around the Pacific Ocean called the Ring of Fire.
A special shout out to Huggies for sending us these adorable Hawaiian Special Edition diapers for the kids. Our little scientists had a blast!




1 comment:

  1. I love making volcanoes with the kids! Their eyes light up every time!

    ReplyDelete