Making a volcano science project has been on our homeschool to-do list for several years. Zion has read me how to make homemade volcanoes countless times. I’m not very good at being the kitchen-science-mom; but this is one of the areas that I’m working on doing more. I told him if he can find projects that he’d like to complete, and gather up supplies, we’ll try to do one family science project per week month um,…often!
The project was easier than I thought; you’ll see by the pictures it gets messy too. This is a great afternoon project that I’m thankful I made myself take the time to do. You know sometimes it’s hard to take the time to slow down and let the kids get flour everywhere. Oh, but I earned my super-homeschool-mom points on this day. We made 4-volcanoes and doubled the recipe below.
Ingredients needed:
- Flour
- Salt
- Cooking Oil
- Water
- Large Bowl
- Clean Plastic Soda Bottle
- Baking Pan
- Food Coloring (Red)
- Liquid Detergent (Our homemade liquid laundry detergent worked fabulous!)
- Baking Soda
- Vinegar
This project was a money saver since we had all the ingredients on-hand. You’d still find this project to be frugal fun, even if you had to pick up a few items.
We also used two books from our homeschool library:
Step One: Mix 6-cups of flour, 2-cups salt, 4-tablespoons of oil and 2-cups of water in a large bowl.
Step Two: Using your hands, mix these ingredients until firm. You may add more water to the mixture if needed for smoothness.
Step Three: Stand your plastic soda bottle in the middle of the baking pan.
Step Four: Mold the salt dough around your bottle. *Make sure that you don’t cover up the bottle mouth or get any dough in your bottle*. Build up your volcano around the sides of your bottle. Give it as much detail as you’d like.
Step Five: Fill the bottle 1/2-way with warm water.
Step Six: Add drops of food coloring.
Step Seven: Squeeze approximately 6-drops of liquid detergent into your bottle.
Step Eight: Add 2-tablespoons of baking soda into your bottle.
Step Nine: Slowly pour vinegar into your bottle.
Step Ten: Listen to your kids squeal as you add up good-mom-points. You’re a winner today!
Step Eleven: Have the kids help clean up. (You can download the free Age Specific Chore List if you need some more Chore ideas, too)
Additional Volcano Resources and Ideas:
Volcanoes 101 {Discovery Channel}
Additional books for Volcano Science Study.
Now it’s your turn! Link up your favorite post for Big Family Friday. You don’t have to be a “big family” to link-up; just love faith, family and homeschool. Let us see what you’ve blogged about. This link-up will be open all weekend. Link back if you’re able, so that we can find one another.
Hi I see your beautiful face on a lot of link up and I finally made it over here. I love your blog! You are so informative. You have a beautiful Family I have fallen behind in our homeschooling. Our sixth child was stillborn on 1-24-12 and it has just really knocked the wind out of me. I love doing projects like this I just have not felt up to it lately. Thanks for sharing, I will be back for more reading!
Sweetie it’s OK to have the wind knocked out of you….I’m so, so, sorry for your loss. Thank you for linking up. I look forward to seeing more of you!
Excited to link up! Thanks for the info on volcanoes – my son is gonna love this…
LOVE this! You inspire me in my homeschooling, thank you for your encouraging posts!!!!
What a fun project and a great post full of resources. Thanks for hosting!
Thanks for sharing!!! We have had homemade volcanoes on our to-do list for a while too!!! This looks fairly easy and so FUN!!!!
Blessings,
Annette
FUN! FUN!FUN!! Thank you for sharing your resoureces, my son is crazy about volcanoes.
My kids always love doing this, though I have to admit we don’t usually make a volcano first, it’s often just the put it in and watch it overflow
Thanks for linking up to Science Sunday!
Did you guys let your salt dough dry before eruption? If so, how long did it take for it to harden?
We did not let it dry. We did the entire project in one swoop.
It worked well and all ends up being a (fun) good mess when it’s done.