How to Make a Clay Volcano

Do you have to make a model of a volcano for school, a science fair, or just for fun? Well, it's easy and cheap. Just look here and you'll have an awesome volcano!

Steps

Making the Clay

1. Pour 1 cup of warm water into a large bowl.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   


2. Add food coloring to the water. Six drops of red and 1 or 2 drops of green should make brown.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   


3. Add 2 tablespoons of canola oil. Mix with water and food coloring as well as you can.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   


4. Pour 4 cups of flour into a separate large bowl. This should be normal, all purpose flour.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   


5. Mix 1 ½ cups of table salt into the flour.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   


6. Mix the flour mixture into the water mixture. Mix and then knead until a dough is formed.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   


7. Allow to dry when making a volcano. Shape your volcano first and then let the dough set. As this is technically playdough (rather than clay), you will want to let it set for about 24 hrs to get dry and hard before completing your project..
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

Forming the Volcano

1. Create a protective surface. Lay down a sheet of wax paper, a thick layer of newspaper, or a box or tray which you can line with tinfoil.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   


2. Get your lava container. This container will be the center of your volcano. You can use lots of different containers like soda cans, mason jars, plastic bottles, and so on.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   


3. Shape your clay. Starting from the bottom and working your way up, place your clay around the volcano to form the outside. Try to make it lumpy and uneven, since volcanoes rarely look like perfect cones!
   
   
   
   
   
   
   


4. Let it dry. You don’t want your clay to get all melted and make an even bigger mess!
   
   
   
   
   
   
   


5. Prepare some vinegar. Add red food coloring to some vinegar. Mix in a tablespoon of dish washing soap to add an extra bubbly final effect!
   
   
   
   
   
   
   


6. Add the vinegar mixture into the container. Using a funnel might make this easier.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   


7. Add baking soda. Take a square of toilet paper and fill it with baking soda. Fold it up into a little bag and seal it with a rubber band or twist tie.


8. Put the baking soda bag in the volcano.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   


9. Run away! The toilet paper will dissolve, exposing the baking soda to the vinegar. This will cause the volcano to erupt!
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

Tips

• Vinegar can really stink so throw out your news paper and wipe everything up with a paper towel. Rinse off your volcano until next time.


• For other ways of making a volcano model, please read this.


• You can also research volcano forms and choose your favorite from out of all of them.


• You can paint it like a peaceful mountain with trees, snow, etc. This would be more like the volcanoes of Washington, Oregon, and Alaska.


• When you're going to blow up the volcano, do it outside, like in your backyard. Or you can do it inside in a little box. It won't be so messy when you clean up if you do it outside.

Warnings

• Wash your hand with warm water and soap after finishing the project.


• This will get messy - you may want to complete these steps outside.

Things You'll Need

• A plastic 2L soda bottle and a funnel


• Modeling clay


• Red food dye


• paint


• paper


• 1 cup of vinegar


• 1 tablespoon of baking soda

Related wikiHows

• How to Make a Volcano


• How to Make a Soda Bottle Volcano


• How to Make a Lava Lamp with Household Ingredients


• How to Make a Model of a Valley (for Kids)


• How to Make a Volcano with a Film Canister for a Science Fair Project


• How to Take a Great Photo of a Dormant Volcano

from How to of the Day http://ift.tt/1uR0oA0

via Peter