What you will need:
- Small plastic bowl
- Dish soap
- White vinegar
- Food coloring or liquid water colors
- Baking soda
Tips on enhancing the experience:
- Try with sparkles mixed into the food coloring for a dazzling effect!
- Use warm vinegar (heat speeds up chemical reactions) or change the amount of baking soda.
- Ask your child guess the size of the eruption (bigger or smaller) and then test the hypothesis.
You may have had discussions with your children's teachers about STEM or STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math) Activities. A STEAM-rich environment is the perfect catalyst to enhance your child’s innate love of learning.
This activity is a STEAM based activity that you can do with your children in your own backyard.
How to create the Snow Volcano:
- Step 1: Make a snow mountain by gathering a big pile of snow.
- Step 2: Place a plastic bowl or bottle into the top of the pile. Fill the bowl with vinegar, a little dish soap and food coloring.
- Step 3: Add a full tablespoon of baking soda and mix
Stand back and observe the colorful “lava” flow out of your snow volcano!
Facts about Volcanoes:
- A volcano is a mountain that opens downward to a pool of molten rock below the surface of the earth. When pressure builds up, eruptions occur.
- In an eruption, gases and rock shoot up through the opening and spill over or fill the air with lava fragments. Eruptions can cause lava flows, hot ash flows, mudslides, avalanches, falling ash and floods.
- The danger area around a volcano covers about a 20-mile radius.
- There are more than 500 active volcanoes in the world. More than half of these volcanoes are part of the "Ring of Fire," a region that encircles the Pacific Ocean.
- Active volcanoes in the U.S. are found mainly in Hawaii, Alaska, California, Oregon and Washington, but the greatest chance of eruptions near areas where many people live is in Hawaii and Alaska.
* Facts provided by dosomething.org
