Bubbling Volcano

Egads! Stand back before the lava gets you!

You will need:

• Small bowl
• Tray (for spills)
• Tablespoon baking soda
• Tablespoon white vinegar
• Food coloring (optional)

How to:

1. Place small bowl on tray. (We used an old cookie sheet.)
2. If using food coloring, tint vinegar in a separate small bowl.
3. Pour baking soda into bowl.
4. Add vinegar.
5. Stand back!! (Or not.)

Thoughts from me:
The vision I had? This super-cool creation that would bubble over the bowl and pour onto the tray. We even doubled the recipe for more thrills.

What we got? 30 seconds of fizzy bubbles. Elliott was VERY into the fizziness, but when it was over, he looked up and said, "Is that it?" Exactly, my friend, exactly.


New feature!!
Elliott has expressed an interest in taking part in the blog, so his thoughts (and words) on each project will now be included...

Elliott's Evaluation:
We did this craft. It bubbled a lot. But then it didn't do anything. But I liked doing this craft a lot!

Lava Lamp

We're bringin' Disco back with this swell homage to the 70's classic.

You will need:

• Plastic bottle, any size
• Vegetable oil
• Water
• Food coloring
• Pie pan (for spills)
• Antacid, such as Alka-Seltzer (one tablet, cut into quarters.)

How to:

1. Place bottle on pie pan.
2. Fill the bottle halfway with oil. Add water to an inch from the top.
3. Add 10 drops of food coloring.
4. Drop one quarter of antacid into bottle and cap.

The antacid forms lava bubbles.

Thoughts:

Not nearly as Brady-tastic as I was hoping. The lava "action" was cool for about a minute or so and then it all sort of mixed together. I'm not sure if we put too much coloring in (we may have gone over the ten drops), shook it up too much or what. The bubbling from the antacid ended so quickly that we just dropped the rest of the tablet in and that may have cause everything to combine too quickly. Who knows.

Yeah, we did a lot of shaking, but I thought oil and water didn't mix.

Got five minutes and want to keep your kid entertained while you make dinner?  This could be the craptastic craft for you.

Gloop

Fun! Fun! Fun!

You will need:

• 2 cups cornstarch
• 1 cup water
• 2 drops food color (optional)

How to:

1. Mix ingredients together in a large bowl.
2. Play!

Thoughts:

I cannot recommend this "science project" enough. Elliott (and I) had so much fun playing with this. It is impossible to keep your hands off of the gloop. Cornstarch does some crazy things when mixed with water. When sitting in the bowl, gloop looks liquidy (Yes, I know that's not a word, thank you, spell check.) but when you touch it, it's actually kind of rubbery. Pick it up and (the coolest part!) it forms into a kind of slime and drips back into the bowl. Roll it in your hand and it turns powdery. All things to keep in mind when trying to teach your kids about textures. Try this one! You will not regret it.

Notes:

Gloop is fairly easy to clean up since any stray pieces turn powdery (so cool!) and can be swept up. However, I do suggest doing this one on a hard surface and not a carpet.

We stored our gloop in a Tupperware dish for about a week until it started to smell a little funky.

I don't know if I will ever again be able to eat any recipe that uses cornstarch.