Sunday, August 7, 2011

Chimney




I gave Aidan a Pocket Vocano that has a chamber for baking soda; one pours vinegar into it--instant lava. It was fun, but at about 2", produced a rather wussy explosion. So I conceived the brilliant idea of building a bigger one in the sandbox. We used a toilet paper tube for the volcanic chimney, packing it with baking soda. Then--so the "lava" would have some hint of fire, I added red food coloring to the vinegar, producing "volcano juice." John played volcano god. As you can see, the result was a delight to the six year old's heart. His three year old brother was pretty impressed, too. Alas, we only had enough volcano juice for three eruptions, but I promised him next time he comes, I'll have a full bottle, and we'll build a whole range of volcanoes & set them off at once.

365/2011

10 comments:

  1. Volcanoes! Something a kid can get his teeth into!

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  2. I think you've earned the "Coolest grandma ever" award - at least in Aidan's eyes.

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  3. these are absolutely great and well documented experiments! And not to forget: I fully agree with Gisele!

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  4. You have to be the funnest grandma ever! I love the sense of excitement in his laugh...but beware, you just wakened his urge to blow things up lol

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  5. Love the excited look on his face!

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  6. I want to play! What joy in his face, gotta agree about you both being the most fun grands.

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  7. What a fun thing to do, and how cool is that about adding red food coloring for the effect? Baking soda and vinegar in a film canister can demonstrate the reaction, just wear goggles.

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  8. Sounds like you and Aidan had a lot of fun with these volcanoes, what's next on the list of things to do?

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  9. My niece has suggested Mentos and Coke; and another friend has offered me a recipe for making a comet using dry ice. SO good to be able be let one's inner kid erupt!

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  10. This is always a hit with the youngsters and your bigger and better volcanoes puts it over the top! Way to go, granny!

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