Volcano Fun

The other day when I was supposed to making lunch for my family I got a little distracted by bicarbonate of soda. You see I was putting some in the water to clean my lettuce when I remembered that I had wanted to do an erupting volcano for the kids for ages. So Queen Procrastination got to work and gathered up the materials …

I used an empty laundry container and bulked up the outside using recycled cereal packets (I keep them when I finish the cereal as that plastic is great for wrapping your meat for the freezer!) and then covered it with foil.

Inside I placed a few generous tablespoons of Bicarb soda and a couple of drops of red food colouring.

Then I set out the kids plastic dinosaur mat and a couple of dinosaurs.

I had some empty drop bottles in my cupboard so I wrapped these in foil to make it look more “scientific” and then filled them with vinegar.

The kids gathered around and I told them they were scientist on a mission to get the volcano to erupt so that the land of the dinosaurs could be saved (because they could warn the dinosaurs etc.). 

I took my lead from Teacher Tom and stood back and let them explore. When it first erupted there were squeals of excitement and then curious minds got to work.

They asked some great questions which lead me to put some more bicarb soda into a tray (I keep these trays from the yoghurt packs we get) and gave them a bowl of vinegar and their droppers.

 

It did not take long for them to figure out that adding a lot at once produced more bubbling so the droppers were cast aside and big spoons came out only to be replaced soon after by bowls. By this stage Laith was also wondering what else you could add and he tried water and they were all very sad how it stopped all the fun and bubbling.

We had fun for about 45 minutes and then I realised that lunch was getting no where, LOL, so we wrapped it up and I made some nice salmon and salad.

I love watching my kids explore and it is true the more you let them lead the more they get out of it, and yes the more mess they make

 

thanks for stopping by …