Draw a pool at the center of the bottom of your paper. The pool does not have to be round. In fact, the more abnormal the shape, the more it will resemble the magma pocket. Color this pocket red and label it “magma reservoir.” You can draw a line from the pocket and label it on the side or simply write inside the pool. Use a pen or black marker to label the pocket. Do not make the pool too large. In fact, it should only be about three or four inches across, so you can draw the rest of the volcano in.
Draw a straw-like tube from the center of the magma reservoir toward the top of the paper. Make the tube shape somewhat straight, but it doesn’t have to be completely straight. Make the tube widen slightly toward the top. It should be 6 to 8 inches long by 1/4 to 1/2-inch wide. Color the tube red at the very bottom, where it meets the reservoir, and then orange up the rest of the tube. Label the center of the straw-like tube “conduit.”
Draw a tube out of one side of your main tube, or the conduit. This tube should be about 1/2 the width and much shorter. Draw a “T” shape where the magma is stopped. It should only be about 1 1/2 to 2 inches long. Color it orange also, and label it “sill.” Draw a second tube out of the other side of your conduit. It can be higher or lower on the conduit than the sill, and it should be longer than the main conduit. It will go to the outside of the volcano on the side of the volcano, so make it about one inch or more longer than the primary tube. Color this orange also, and label it “vent.”
Draw in your layers of earth. Over the magma reservoir, draw a line from one side of your paper to the other. It can be anywhere along the conduit, but should be less than 1 inch from the top of the reservoir so that you have enough room to draw the entire volcano. Do not draw the line across your conduit. Draw at least two additional lines just above this line. Again, the lines do not have to be straight, because the earth is not flat. These are the layers of earth. Color them different colors of brown or grey.
Draw your cone. At the top of your conduit, draw a line down toward the top layer of earth, so that it forms half of a cone. Draw the same line down the other side of the conduit, so you have a full cone shape with the conduit up through the center. Your cone should be below the vent you drew in Step 3, but above the sill on the other side of the conduit. Add some character to your cone, and do not use straight lines. Draw several more cones under the large cone. Make sure you have an even number of lines on each side of your conduit. Also, the cones do not have to start in exactly the same place on each side of the cone, because a volcano will not be exactly the same on both sides. Make sure at least one line, an even numbered line, sits directly on top of the “T” from the sill you created in Step 3.
Color your cones. Start at the smallest cone and color it black. The next cone should be grey. Alternate black and grey all the way to the last cone section. You can lighten your gray as you get more toward the outside of the volcano, or you can leave it the same color. Label the black areas “Lava” and the grey areas “Ash.”
Draw cones around your side vent. These cones should go from the top of your vent to the top of the volcano’s cone. It will be a cone on top of a cone. Draw a few lines under the original cone line. Use an even number of lines, and color the area under the lines the same as you did in Step 6, starting with black and alternating with grey to the top of the cone. Label this cone” Parasitic Cone.”
Add lava outside the cones. Draw lava flowing down the side of the cone you just finished and out of the top of the volcano. Color this lava orange and label it “Lava Flow.” Also, label the area at the top of the original volcano cone “Vent” where the throat comes out of the main cone. Label the area at the top of the volcano, where the lava flows out, “Crater.”
Draw a cloud-type shape above the volcano’s throat. Color the cloud shape grey, and label it “Ash Cloud.”
Glue your volcano to a strong piece of cardboard and cut the cardboard out around the volcano.
Cut a foam craft cone in half, so you have one flat side and the rest of the cone is rounded. Glue the volcano on to the flat side of the cone. Your earth will stick out of the bottom of the cone, so glue a piece of flat foam to the bottom of the cone and the back of the earth section of your drawing.
Add a piece of foam behind the parasitic cone so it is shaped like a half of a cone behind the cardboard.
Crinkle up several pieces of brown construction paper. Flatten them back out and glue them to the Styrofoam cone. Cover the cone so no white shows through. Trim the construction paper so it does not hang over the front of the cone, where your drawing is, or over the top or bottom of the cone. The paper does not have to be completely flat around the cone, because volcanoes are not perfectly smooth.
Add foam behind the area where you had extra lava overflowing out of the top of the volcano. Crinkle a piece of red construction paper, and flatten it back out. Glue it around the foam and trim the excess paper off.