Collect a few ingredients to help you get started including 2 cups flour, 1 cups water, a piece of wood or cardboard, a newspaper cut into 1-inch strips, an empty plastic 20-ounce bottle, 1 tablespoon of liquid dish soap, 1 tablespoon baking soda, a quarter cup of vinegar and paint or markers. Carefully cut the top off of the bottle and set it on the piece of wood to use for the lava chamber. Use balls of newspaper to make a basic mountain shape around the bottle for the volcano form. Mix the water and flour into a paste, dip strips of newspaper into the paste and lay it on the volcano form to help it take shape. Completely cover the outside of the volcano except for the opening at the top where the bottle is located. Let the volcano dry for at least twelve hours, preferably overnight. When ready to see the eruption, add the baking soda, food coloring and soap to the bottle. Add the vinegar and watch the volcano erupt.
Before beginning the project, you will need to purchase a raised relief map. You will also need a straw and a container of molasses. This project uses a raised relief map that shows shape and size of the volcano and the surrounding areas. Lava is simulated by molasses, as molasses is more viscous than water and so is most lava. This "lava" will flow slowly down the mountain. Set the map on the table and place the straw in molasses and set your thumb on top of the straw opening to keep the molasses in the straw. Release the molasses over top of the volcano, and let gravity do the rest.
This project is best performed outside where cleanup is minimal. Collect the following ingredients for this project: a small container like an old 35mm film container, food coloring, liquid dish soap, vinegar and a mound of dirt. Put the film container into the mound of dirt so that the opening is at the top of the pile. Add two spoonfuls of baking soda and a spoonful of dish soap. Add food coloring if you want the reddish-orange look of lava (5 drops of red and 5 drops of yellow). For the eruption, add in an ounce of vinegar and watch the lava bubble up and run down the sides of the dirt volcano.
This volcano requires a lot of preparation. Collect a piece of cardboard or plywood for your base, a small 200-300ml bottle, old newspapers, wallpaper glue, sticky tape, a roll of toilet paper, emulsion paint, acrylic paint, food coloring, baking soda, vinegar and soap flakes or starch. Place the bottle in the middle of the cardboard and secure it with tape. Crumple newspaper into balls and set them around the bottle to make the shape of the volcano, fastening them with tape to the bottle and cardboard in the shape of a cone. Tear the newspaper into small squares and glue them to the bottle and cone to form the volcano shape. Let the model dry between layers, and make sure to coat the volcano in 3-5 layers. Prepare paper pulp from toilet paper, using water to let the paper dissolve into pulp. Remove the excess water and add glue. Form ridges and valleys on the cone of the volcano. Let the volcano dry for a few days before decorating it. Add a base layer of emulsion paint. Use acrylic paint once the emulsion paint dries and decorate the volcano. Make the lava by putting baking soda into the bottle in the volcano model. Add in the starch and red food coloring. Pour in the vinegar and watch it erupt.