Learning about volcanoes is always super fun! We read several books from the library as well as watching eruptions on Youtube. We talked about how volcanoes are formed and what causes them to erupt. It was also important to discuss how they affect people and how we are safe and are not anywhere close to any active volcanoes. Then came the fun bit. L had already done the baking soda and vinegar science experiment at school so she was familiar with the reaction. She hadn't done it in a model volcano before though! We found instructions on how to make this model volcano at Storm the Castle. First you take a normal cardboard box and cut it down so the sides are just high enough to contain the eruption. We left a high volcano sized bit at the back to paint the sky onto. We used the leftover bits of cardboard and some scrunched up plastic bags to make the skeleton of the volcano. I almost forgot the most clever bit. Cut a hole in the bottom of the box the size of the bottle you are going to use. This way you can fill the bottle up first and place the volcano on to of it. Cover it in a plastic bag and place it in the skeleton for the next bit. Next we used paper mache (just flour and water) to glue strips of newspaper on and form our volcano. L hates getting her hands gooey so I ended up putting most of the pieces on. We used a hairdryer to speed up the drying process but still left it for a day. After painting it with acrylic paint we were ready to go. This was a big event so L invited some friends over to watch. She mixed baking soda, dish soap and red food coloring in the bottle and placed the volcano over it. Then she poured the vinegar in. Soooooo exciting!!! The first few times we did this our bottle was not high enough and the foam just went inside the volcano. It took several tries to get it just right and we used up all of the vinegar and baking soda! After all of the excitement had died down I gave L this sheet to label all of the parts of the volcano and color. At the moment it is proudly displayed on her bulletin board. Once she is ready she will paste it into her science journal. We are going to Kelowna British Columbia in a few weeks for a short trip and there is an extinct volcano there called Mount Boucherie that we are going to visit. So what becomes of all of this lava?? Next up rocks......