Grasshopper New Media Presents...

Summer is here and your kids are ready to get outside and have some fun. Why not sneak a little learning into their fun and games? Make yourself feel like Super Mom by keeping the kids happy and making their little brains work at the same time.

One way to ensure that the kiddos will have a good time is to MAKE A MESS. One way to ensure that mom is unhappy is to make a mess! Unless, of course, the mess is outside and doesn’t require much clean up! Why not try making an outdoor volcano?

Here’s what you’ll need:

• Soda or water bottle (16 or 20 ounces)
• 1 TBSP Baking soda
• 1/2 cup white vinegar
• Red food coloring
• Dirt

And here is what you’ll do:

1. Find a place in your backyard to build your volcano. You’ll want somewhere relatively flat and out of the way. Keep in mind that the vinegar could kill your grass, although you’ll only be using a small amount for this project.

2. Put your kids to work and have them start digging. Alternately you could use potting soil if you have some handy and want to go easy on the kids. (Personally? I like the manual labor route. Keeps the kids in line. Let’s ‘em know who’s boss. Also, the dirt in your backyard is free. Potting soil is not.)

3. While the kids are busy digging up enough dirt to mound around the soda bottle you’ll want to add a tablespoon of baking soda to your soda bottle and then add your food coloring to the vinegar. Don’t mix the baking soda and red vinegar yet, though!

4. Set the soda bottle on the ground and have the kids mound the dirt around it to create a volcano. Make sure they get the dirt up to the top without getting any dirt inside the soda bottle.

5. Now for the fun part! Let one of the kids pour the vinegar in to the soda bottle and watch the volcano erupt!

It’s summer vacation and here you are entertaining your kids while introducing them to chemistry. GO MOM! Oh, and if you’re looking for extra credit, you could have the kids research what causes the baking soda and vinegar to “erupt.” Then again, it IS summer vacation. Research just shouldn’t be allowed!

by Karly Campbell

Photo graciously provided by guano, through a Creative Commons license, some rights reserved