The Volcano

Laurel and Nicolas are currently very interested in volcanoes.  We watched some Diego and Backyardigans episodes about volcanoes, and then they started asking more and more questions about volcanoes.  We watched some documentaries about volcanoes, and if you ask Laurel about them, she will be happy to tell you all the details!

One of the shows we watched had some kids who built a volcano and had it erupt, and Laurel asked if we could do that at home.  She even saved one of Scott's empty pop bottles just for the volcano!  So one afternoon a couple weeks ago I agreed to make a volcano.

It was an interesting experience. First I took the bottle and created a volcano shape around it with aluminum foil.  And then the crying began!

--First Laurel asked if it would be dormant or active.  When I told her it would be an active volcano, she started screaming and crying that she wanted a dormant volcano.  After much screaming I told her if she wanted it dormant then we were done and I would put it away right now.  Then she decided she wanted it to be active after all.

--Next I started to put some of our millions of dinosaurs into the pan with the volcano.  At that point Laurel started screaming and told me she didn't want the dinos to burn up in the lava!

I don't want the dinos to burn in the lava!

--At that point Nicolas started screaming that he wanted crackers.

--I lined up all the dinos outside the pan, and then we poured in some warm water, baking soda, and food coloring.  Then Laurel started screaming and crying and saying that she hates vinegar!  I explained a couple times that the volcano will not erupt without vinegar, and she just kept crying.  So I told her that if she didn't let me pour in the vinegar, we would never do a craft again.  That threat worked, and the kids finally came to the table to watch the volcano erupt. 

The lava is so beautiful!

Cheese!

--I had set up the camera to take a video of the actual eruption, but when I went to check it after we were done, it told me that it had stopped recording.  After all the screaming I was disappointed to say the least!  However, the next time I got the camera out, the video had magically appeared after all.  Here it is!  I love how Laurel spent the whole time covering her eyes with her hands.