Volcanoes

Ethan really wanted to do some activities this week to learn about volcanoes.  Since I cannot resist such a sweet face or a sweet request; we learned all about volcanoes.  We started off by watching volcanic eruptions on youtube.

This is the face I love. :D

Vinegar and Baking Soda Volcanoes

Everyone knows this classic children's experiment.  We've done it before and they always love it.  This time we added some color tablets to the vinegar to make different colored lava.  Hannah and Ethan also made volcanoes out of our leftover Christmas playdough.

Watching the color tablets fizz in the vinegar is fun too.

Hannah's volcano laden with baking soda.

Ethan loved using the dropper to drip vinegar on his volcano.

Repeat, repeat, repeat. Afterwards, Hannah told me that this was a very good experience.  I think she meant experiment but her use of the word experience was very endearing.

The colors didn't immediately mix which made for some very colorful baking soda hills.

Volcano Mini-Book

You can find the printable book here.  This is a very simple book made did a good job of showing how a volcano erupts.  Hannah in particular enjoys these little books and likes to "teach" from them.

Teaching Mommy all about volcanoes.

Ethan colored it and talking me through the book but it is definitely not his thing.

Our failed underwater volcano experiment.

We attempted to do the experiment found here but it failed miserably.  So much so that I didn't take any pictures because I was too busy trying to make it work.  Part of the problem was my vase was too narrow.  Made worse by the floating little bottle.  It needed to sit on the bottom by itself and mine tipped and floated to the top.

Making Paper Volcanoes

Simple volcano craft, loved by Ethan and Hannah.  The cotton ball plume was their favorite part.

Reading about Volcanoes

Hannah found some pictures of volcanoes in one of our books and shared them with Ethan.  

This picture makes me smile.