Volcano Fun – Sorta A Science Experiment

by Tracey · Published June 19, 2018 · Updated February 9, 2019

Summertime is never dull around our house when the boys are here. They are spending the weekdays with us this month and there is constantly something going on. This week they are at Camp Invention. This is a national program that I highly recommend. They went last year and loved it. Find out more at CampInvention.org.

Just because they are “inventing” during the day, doesn’t mean that the creative wheels slow down when they get home. They LOVE to try experiments and make concoctions. We found a great little book called, “The Ultimate Book of Kid Concoctions”.

They went through the book and picked out a few concoctions they wanted to make. They first one they chose was Instant Volcano (page 46) which was no surprise.

Here’s what you need:

2 small paper cups
1/4 cup baking soda
1/4 cup vinegar
4/6 drops of red food coloring
AND if you are doing this indoors – I recommend a shallow bowl to contain the “lava”

How to concoct it:

Fill the bottom of one cup with 1/4 cup baking soda and put it in the shallow bowl
4-6 drops of food coloring on top of the baking soda
Poke a hole, about the size of a dime) in the bottom of the second paper cup (ours never worked out of the hole though)
Place the second cup upside down over the cup with the baking soda
Pour vinegar into the hole until the volcano begins to erupt.

Here is the boys’ first attempt at making their volcano