Erupting Volcano

Fizzy fun with this erupting volcano set in a small dinosaur world.

Volcano lava heading for the dinosaurs.

What you need:

- fizzy cloud dough

- rocks

- breadcrumbs

- selection of toy dinosaurs

- pipette, cup and squirty bottle

- plastic storage tub

- white vinegar

The set up.

How it works:

The first step was to make the fizzy cloud dough. This involved mixing 1 cup all purpose flour, 1 cup baking soda, and 1/4 cup vegetable oil. Our volcano was pretty big so it required four batches of the fizzy cloud dough.

I then shaped it into a volcano by putting a kitchen towel roll down the middle and moulding a mountain shape around it. Make sure you pack the mountain pretty tight. I then put six tablespoons of baking soda and a few squirts of red food colouring down the middle hole of the volcano and removed the kitchen towel roll.

Now the fun bit! My son started off by using a pipette to squirt small amounts of white vinegar into the hole to try and get the volcano to erupt. It was enough to get the lava flowing but it wasn't a huge eruption.

Pipetting white vinegar into the volcano hole.

My son then used a cup to pour larger quantities of white vinegar into the hole. This gave a much more impressive eruption!

Watch out dinosaurs!

We finished off by using a squirty bottle to create as much lava as possible around the dinosaurs.

More lava flowing.

Once my son was happy that the volcano had no more lava to produce he enjoyed playing with the small world. Pretending that the dinosaurs were running away from the lava or that they needed reducing were his favourite things to do. He also enjoyed just squashing the small dinosaurs deep down under the breadcrumbs and lava.