Volcano experiment.

OK! Here is some seriously nice and fascinating two day project - build your own volcano and see it erupt! Excuse the Christmas tree in the background, we did this over Christmas and came across these pics just now..

However! This is how we made our volcano --->

You will need

1. a box

2. an empty bottle of wine or champagne or similar bottle with a nice, round shape.

3. old newspapers

4. glue

5. toilet paper

6. dough (simple flour + water)

7. paint (whatever colours you want your volcano to be + some for the ground around it.

Take an empty bottle and place it in the box. Fold newspaper pages in strips and start wrapping it around the bottle. Use sellotape to secure ends over each other. Keep wrapping the bottle until the whole bottle is covered.

Start making dough. Knead it well till it is not sticking to your hands. Once it is ready wrap it around the end of the bottle, it will serve as weight to hold the bottle in place. Use plenty of it, spread it all over the base of the box building uneven ground.

Now it's time to plaster the volcano. Apply glue all over the volcano. I used all purpose PVN glue. Then start applying toilet paper all over the glue. Don't be afraid - mess it up a bit as it will only create a rougher and more natural looking surface. Let it dry. Don't cover the hole.

Once it's dry - it's time to paint the whole scene! We started with dark grey at the bottom of the volcano and worked up lighter colours making the top completely white full of snow :) For the ground we used more dramatic colours - brown, orange, dark green, some red spots.

Then take some small branches of a tree and stick it in some of the dough you applied for the ground. Bring on all dinosaurs and make your project alive!

To make your volcano active prepare the lava - 1/4 cup vinegar (up to a cup for larger bottles), 6 - 8 drops of liquid dish soap, 2 tablespoons baking soda, red food colorant. Fill the bottle about 2/3 full with very warm water. Add the vinegar and dish soap to the bottle. Put good bit of food colorant. To initiate the erupting volcano project, add the soda mixture to the vinegar all at once using the funnel or tissue paper method. Stand back and enjoy!

Here is a quick video of our volcano erupting.