It’s amazing how a simple afternoon project can create lasting memories.
Last week, I decided to make a Play-Doh volcano with my sons, Matthew, 5, and John, 2. Matthew had been talking about volcanos for the past few weeks, which came from a preschool lesson. Since he had been talking about them so much, I thought maybe we could make a volcano.
I must confess, I did not come up with the idea on my own, I heard about the Play-Doh volcano from a friend at church. She also had photos, which helped a lot.
Although I had seen photos, I had to conduct a little more research. So, I went to my computer and typed in Play-Doh volcanos on the Google search. I was able to get a lot of different ideas and then come up with one that was best for my children.
Before announcing it was volcano day, I made sure I had all of the required items -- a small, plastic jug with a small hole at the top and bigger bottom for a good volcano base, Play-Doh, baking soda, red food coloring and vinegar.
I found the perfect baking pan to catch all of the lava in and then announced to the children that we were going to make a volcano. They erupted with excitement.
First, I had them empty out the Play-Doh. We used old Play-Doh that the boys had mixed all together. The mixed colors actually looked really cool on the small, plastic jug. I had the boys put the Play-Doh around the base of the small bottle, to secure it to the baking dish. Then, we worked our way up the volcano with the Play-Doh until all of it was covered. Of course we left the top open, so the lava could flow out.
While the boys continued working on the Play-Doh volcano, I mixed the food coloring and vinegar. I also had a last-minute brilliant idea. I remembered that the boys really wanted some Sesame Street fizzy bath tub colors. We actually did purchase it; and they do make bath time fun, but that is another story. I knew we had red and thought that it would work nicely. Plus, they fizzed so it would only add to the volcanic eruption.
I had Matthew drop the tab into the bottom of the plastic bottle. Then, he put in some baking soda. Next, I poured in a little vinegar; and waited. Pretty soon the mixture was shooting out of the volcano and the boys were erupting with excitement.
We talked about magma, lava and how it takes a while for enough pressure to build up before a volcano will erupt, which could take years and years.
Matthew was jumping up and down yelling excitedly “Do it again. Do it again.”
So we did.
Then, I let the boys take over, which may not have been such a good idea, but they had fun and although a mess was made, it wasn’t too bad. Matthew would add the baking soda and John would pour in the vinegar. Matthew kept jumping up and down, while telling John to add more.
This whole process continued until we ran out of vinegar. We also used up quite a bit of baking soda, about half a box to be exact. The boys wanted to continue, but I was kind of glad we ran out. I made videos of the whole experiment and even posted one on Facebook.
I know these videos will be something we will watch years from now and laugh at. I do not think I will ever forget how excited Matthew was, the expression on his face or him jumping up and down while waving his hands in the air.
I thought maybe other crafts we did after that would just not live up to the hype, but the other day we made a bunny out of cotton balls and although there was no jumping up and down or excited hand waving, they still had fun.
It’s days like these that will cause lasting memories. I wonder what we will do next. I am learning toward making bird’s nests out of melted marshmallows and corn flakes and putting jelly beans in the middle for the eggs.
Mmmmm, jelly beans. Yep, that sounds like a fun and yummy new project.
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