Ultimate Volcano Kit | Learning

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I’m sure most of you have heard of the ton of rain Texas has been getting lately. It’s no joke. There’s just been rain and more rain. Something most Texans aren’t too accustomed to. Well, that’s where I live so me and my kids have been stuck indoors a good portion of May.

It rained AGAIN last weekend and cancelled my son’s baseball tournament AGAIN so we decided to play with Discover with Dr. Cool’s Ultimate Volcano Science Kit. It’s great way to keep kids entertained over a couple days if you choose.

The idea is simple. You and your children get to make a volcano out of plaster, paint it, and make it erupt! Everything you need to do this is included in the kit except water which I’m sure you have.

To start you add water to the plaster mix. It suggests to add 1 cup of water but I added 1.5 cups as the mix wasn’t liquidy enough to pour. They say this is due to the packaging process which I totally understand!

Then you pour the plaster mix into the mold and wait 30-45 minutes. A little built in downtime to do something else is perfect. Once enough time has passed you can remove the volcano from the mold and rub off any mold lines with the stirring stick. Don’t worry it rubs off real easy!

The mold needs to be completely dry before you paint which can take 1-2 days if you choose. I decided to go the quicker route and bake it for an hour in the oven at 200 degrees F. Let it cool and then you can paint to your hearts content.

A video posted by Krystle Cook (@homejobsbymom) on Jun 1, 2015 at 4:09pm PDT

To erupt our volcano we placed in on a baking sheet and had everyone wear an apron as the eruption powder can stain. We did pretty good and only came out with a few red fingers. It’s not going to shoot across your kitchen so have fear about doing it inside. To make the volcano erupt you add a teaspoon of citric acid and sodium bi-carbonate. The kids learn that the eruption is caused by a chemical reaction between the two that causes carbon dioxide gas. This gas build up pressure in the volcano chamber until it bubbles out.

A video posted by Krystle Cook (@homejobsbymom) on Jun 1, 2015 at 4:15pm PDT

The Discover with Dr. Cool’s Ultimate Volcano Science Kit describes several different ways to make your volcano erupt. There’s plenty of eruption powder included to make 4-5 eruptions which is great. We tested them all to see which one we liked the best. Our favorite was the slow and steady mix of the eruption powder and dish soap!

My boys had a great time with the kit! I love that it has a little bit of everything – painting, plaster molds, and fun science! Also, included in the kit is an activity book where your kids can do word searches, dot to dots, crossword puzzles, and more – that’s all related to volcanoes! There’s also an info guide filled with cool facts about the real geode, obsidian arrowhead, and pumice rock included in the kit as well as why volcanoes erupt.

I absolutely love ALL Discover with Dr. Cool science kits. They are put together well and give kids a way to have fun and learn at the same time. I highly recommend any of their kits especially this one if your kids are into volcanoes!!

Have you ever seen a volcano?

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