Test Tube Volcano Activity

 I thought I would share a quick bit of fun we had mixing in a fine motor component to a super simple volcano in a test tube activity.

I keep a clear box from Home depot filled with goodies for home experiments close at hand. The contents vary, but right now we have it stocked with the following... plastic test tubes, plastic droppers, small glass jars, small water/pop bottles, elastics, balloons, plastic jars, alka seltzer tablets, Mentos and geyser kit (link below), modelling clay, straws, string, paper clips, magnets, magnifying glass. Other ingredients are just from the kitchen.

Geyser Tube with Caps

Norpro 3080 Mini Measuring Spoons, 5 Piece Set

We used these fun little measuring spoons for the baking soda. The spoon needed to be small enough to comfortably fit into the tube to preserve the fine motor aspect, and to help eliminate the frustration of spillage with a larger spoon.

We had a small container to hold the baking soda and vinegar. You can also add food colour - we have done this in the past.

The tube is mounted with modelling clay.

This was fun because she added small amounts until the "fizz" reached the top of the tube.

This was very suspenseful 😉 It was fun for her to play around with quantities of ingredients to get large and smaller reactions. The larger volcano we have requires quite a bit of vinegar and baking soda, and they work with it for shorter periods. They loved doing it this way, and worked away for the better part of an hour and a half!

Very exciting when it reached the top!!

Very precise dropping going on here.
This is amazing for fine motor development and basic practical life spooning and dropping practice.
When the tube was too full she suctioned out some of the liquid to make space.

So we were chatting about very basic stuff throughout. We focused on observation. What was the reaction when the ingredients were mixed together? What did it sound like? Observing the size of the bubbles, quantity, buildup and dissipation.

Mr. Xander joined in 😃

Ava made a small video showing some of her adventure and you can visit it here

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