Volcano : Decorating and Erupting

Oy, it took me longer to get to this post than I meant to. Ok, so when I left off in Volcano: Pt. 1 the volcano looked like this:

So the next day I took acrylic paint,

Now, one of the reasons I took the paint and decorated the volcano is that the clay cracked. If you don't want a cracked volcano, do not use this method- I would do paper mache- but I liked how it looked, so no biggie. So I used the orange acrylic to add trails of lava, and cover up some of the worst cracks. 

I then used the black and red paint to paint the layers on the inside of the volcano:

Then I wrote out the labels for the layers, glued them to sticks if I needed to, if not, I glued them directly to the volcano. 

To make the lava I did vinegar diluted in water with red food coloring. Then I used baking soda to make it erupt, which the kids LOVED. I ended up making it erupt around 5 times. Just as a note.. this is extremely messy, you've been warned. So now some pictures of the eruption (please ignore the unflattering pictures of me)..

It was an extremely popular program, I think this might be one we repeat in a couple years.

Making a 'see inside' volcano Pt. 1

Friday at CRRL Headquarters we have our monthly school-age (K-6) program and we've had to raise the cap (usually 40) because of the amount of interest in the program. So I decided I probably shouldn't put off making the volcano any longer. So I figured I would also show how I made it: warning this was a messy process.

I started with two long floral Styrofoam pieces that you should be able to find at your local craft store:

I cut it down to the size I needed. I'm using a pizza pan covered with aluminum foil :

The plastic bottle is a 20 oz soda bottle with the neck cut off. To cut the foam I used a mixture of kitchen knives. In order to keep the foam in place when I cut it, I inserted wooden dowels: 

Next I drew out my basic shape directly on the foam: 

Then I used a bread knife to get the volcano down to cone size! 

At this point I took a break to clean up all the Styrofoam pieces-- that took a while. I also used an old paint brush to brush off some of the loose pieces. After that I ran outside to some of the pine tree branches that fell during the late-season snow storm VA got last week. I cut off some small (I mean SMALL - no longer than 2 inches) branches so that the volcano could have trees - because volcano ash actually has a lot of nutrients so if it doesn't erupt often- plants begin to grow:

Then, I pulled out the modeling clay that we got. Now, if you are going to do this make sure you buy AIR DRYING clay. You DO NOT want to put Styrofoam in the oven.

For the next part you want to make sure you are wearing old clothes that you don't mind possibly getting stained. I used parchment paper on the counter, and a rolling pin to roll it out. I then realized I should have put parchment in between the clay and rolling pin cuz I might have ruined my rolling pin, luckily it was a $2.00 one! I then started attaching it to the foam by pushing it in. I also used it to keep the plastic bottle in place. After I finished with the clay I put the branches into it. 

I found it was very important to smooth over the areas where the clay meets. I also made sure it was not perfect because volcanoes aren't smooth. 

Next up, either working of the "lava" or adding paint so that the "inside" view has layers.