Bubbles, fizz, and oozzzzzing red foam flow from our mountain of tin foil! Of course, the experience is even better when we make bang, pop, and hissing sounds. How cool is that?
We learn that deep, deep, deep beneath the ground is hot melted rock, called magma. Sometimes red hot magma can burst up in a volcano mountain from cracks in the earth. Lava is the hot magma flowing down the volcano mountain.
Three and four year olds love to play make believe and can learn a lot of fun facts in the process. After learning about volcanoes, we made one with a few household supplies: baking soda, water and soap, red coloring, vinegar, cup and foil and a plate to catch the mess.
Baking Soda Mixture
Mix together in the small cup:
3 Tablespoons Baking Soda
Pinch of red paint or food coloring
3 or 4 Tablespoons Water with a few drops of dishwashing soap
Volcano Mountain
Make Volcano Mountain:
Tin foil (clay with sticks and other earth features make it even more realistic)
Plate or pan to catch the flowing “lava”
Create a mountain of foil over the cup with the baking soda mixture. Poke a hole in the top of the mountain so that you can add the final ingredient- Vinegar.
Lava
Start the lava flowing:
Add sound effects: "Rumble", "hissssss", "Crack"
Pour about 1/2 C vinegar through the small hole and watch the lava flow.
To extend the experience further check out an excellent book about volcanoes for beginners called,
Jump Into Science: Volcano! By Ellen j. Prager.
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