Weather Wise: How to Make a Volcano and Watch it Erupt!

volcano project

I remember being assigned a science project in elementary school. When the teacher asked what I had chosen, I told her I wanted to do mine on a volcano. I knew nothing about how to make a volcano or how to make it erupt. I wanted to construct a huge lava spewing mountain. Instead, I ended up putting together a couple of oak tags with photos and descriptions of various volcanoes with their locations.

It’s was pretty boring. But my lackluster project did okay considering the lack of lava flowing visual appeal.

Now I find myself making up for my lifeless old science projects, and I’ve got some assistance from my mini-me.

Princess and I are always coming up with cool crafts to do. She’s been on Play-Doh kick lately. In fact, becoming better at it is among her goals for 2015. So when she suggested making a volcano, I was all in.

Before getting started, I gave her a quick lesson on volcanoes. “A volcano is a mountain with a hole on top.” I showed her photos of the molten rock and explained that it’s found beneath the Earth’s surface. “When there is a lot of pressure that builds up, the volcano erupts (or as she likes to say, explode) and hot lava comes out of the hole.”

At this age there’s no need to get into plate tectonics shifting and whatnot. I think when speaking with young children, your best bet is to keep it simple. Besides, demonstrating is way more awesome!

The cool thing is that we were able to construct the volcano using household items along with Play-Doh.

If you’re looking for a fun activity or science project idea for your kids, consider having them make a volcano and watch it erupt!

Here’s what you’ll need:
Two spoonfuls of baking soda
Two spoonfuls of dish soap
Small empty bottle
Red food coloring (optional)
2 oz of vinegar
Lots of Play-doh

Check out this quick tutorial that we put together below. Please give this video a thumbs up and subscribe. Thanks for watching!


Have you ever made a volcano? What’s your favorite science project?

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