Where are we going Valcano!

This activity provided lots of laughs while we learned about weather and practice some of our practical skill building.  My son recently watched an episode of Dora the Explorer while at my parents house about going to, of all things, a Volcano. As a result, he started running around the house singing her little catchy song ..."Where are we going .. VOLCANO!" So I started thinking about doing a classic baking soda volcano. But, I worried that the small opening of a soda bottle and the resulting force of the eruptions be to much for my 2 and under crowd to effectively do the project on thier own. Then I saw this post from the The Artful Parent. She used a mason jar instead of soda bottle. I was inspired!! Here is our adaptation ...

First, we made our favorite play-doh recipe:

1 cup salt
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cups water
2 tablespoons oil

Yes, I let them do it all the measuring hehe and the pouring as you can see.:)

Next time, I'm thinking of making mud-dough!











Next, we built our model Volcano.

We used an old cookie sheet as a base and an cleaned empty Organic Ragu Bottle as the vessel to build our Valcano around. Then we covered it in old tin foil scraps and our play-doh!

Lava Time!

We filled the jar nearly full with warm water, added 6 drops of dish soap, 3 Tablespoons of Baking Soda, and red food coloring. Then the slowly poured in the vinegar.

*We added a bit more baking soda then the Weather Wiz Kids Recipe primarily because we used a different container type.

The Result was foamy and fabulous!!

And of coarse we learned our sign for Volcano along the way. We used the first demonstration seen on Signing Savvy. While it's a bit complex I find it's very identifiable and the kiddos love it. http://www.signingsavvy.com/sign/VOLCANO