What do you need?
a cardboard box
stack of old newspapers
wallpaper glue
duct tape
an empty plastic bottle
two empty kitchen towel rolls
acrylic paint and a paintbrush
100 grams of baking soda (bicarbonate of soda)
300 ml vinegar and drops of red food colouring
Last month we showed on snazzie.nl how to build a volcano out of cardboard. Now we show you how to make a homemade volcano erupt. But we do it outside!
How to make an erupting vulcano
Prepare wallpaper glue as indicated on the box.
Shred old newspapers into the glue.
Stir until it turns into a thick paste.
Cut a square from the box, cut the corners and staple them.
Cut the two empty cardboard rolls open lenghtwise.
Measure the diameter of the crater on your empty plastic bottle.
Staple the cardboard rolls around the bottle together.
Snip in the tube and stick it in the middle, glue cardboard strips around the tube with tape.
Seal the top with duct tape against leakage and fill the volcano body with newspapers.
Model a thick layer of paper mache paste all over the volcano.
Now the volcano will need one week to dry completely through and through. Put it outside or in front of an open a window when the weather is dry, to make it dry quicker. Make sure the air can reach the bottom by elevating the volcano, that helps it drying too.
Meanwhile, we are going to do a test explosion with only an empty plastic bottle. Always do this outside, it is not dangerous but it is sticky and messy.
The volcano has dried through and through, now it's ready to paintt.
Paint the volcano alternately yellow and green. Let the paint dry well.
Make dark grey paint by mixing black and white and paint the volcano with it.
Make streaks of red and orange, use yellow for highlights and let it dry.
Stick a funnel into the volcano crater.
Pour the baking soda into the bottle (baking powder doesn't work).
Mix the red colouring (optional yellow too) with the vinegar.
You can move the volcano outside if you like, it's going to get messy now.
The reaction of the acid with baking soda creates the bubbling lava flood.
Let the volcano drain upside down in a empty jar until it's dry.
Cut the cardboard around the volcano but leave a small border. Prick a hole with scissors to stick the 'tree' into the volcano.
Stick moss and gravel onto the border and pour in the soda/vinegar once more!! (Fill the jug with vinegar and soda again).