I love it when teachers use some real imagination to make lessons fun and exciting. The other day I went along to Big Sis’ school for a Year 2 class visit, and they were making volcanoes for the kids’ science class. How cool is that?!
The volcano itself was created from a polystyrene cup, an empty water bottle, and a paper plate. First we had to paint them up in red-hot lava-like colours (obviously), then we cut an ‘x’ into the bottom of the cup. Next we cut a circle out of a paper plate, just big enough to fit over the water bottle and rest snugly on the widest part. Finally we slotted the cup upside down over the neck of the bottle, until the top just peeked out of the slots we’d cut earlier.
After letting it dry Big Sis carefully carried our amazing creation home. And now the fun was seriously ready to begin. I got all the ingredients ready:
• one teaspoon of baking soda
• a squirt of dishwashing liquid
• half a cup of malt vinegar
• a few drops of red food colouring
I tipped the baking soda into bottle, and added the Fairy liquid, then mixed the vinegar and the food colouring into a jug. The honour of setting off the eruption went to Big Sis, who carefully tipped the vinegar mixture into the volcano, and THIS is what happened…
