Paper Mache Volcano

School projects, reports, plays, (and anything else a teacher can dream up) always pile up the last few weeks of the school year.  This year my son had a volcano project due on the last day.  We could make it any way we wanted and use whatever kind of explosion that we wanted...as long as it was legal of course :-)  I have to admit, I'm usually not too excited about the last minute projects, but this one was fun!  And best of all, we kept it simple!

We formed the volcano out of cardboard, making sure it would be the right height for a glass bottle.

And taped it together on the inside like this:

Then we made the paper mache goop out of water and flour; just mix flour and water until you get it to a good consistency...like pancake batter.  We used brown paper bags, because for some reason we didn't have any newspaper.  Overlap the paper, but don't do more than three layers.

You can bet no one had a volcano shaped like this one :-)  

We cut a hole in the center of the cardboard base that the volcano sits on so he could slide a bottle underneath the volcano when it came time.

After it dried I spray painted it brown.  We didn't think regular paint would cover the brown very well, so we decided to make the same paper mache goop (flour + water) and color it with food coloring and pour it down the sides to look like lava.  We did three different colors.

Then we experimented with different eruptions:

First, the typical water + dish soap + vinegar + baking soda mixture, which was typical and not that exciting.

Then one I had never heard of, the ketchup + dish soap + baking soda mixture.  This one oozed very slowly and maybe looked the most realistic.  But it wasn't quite "explosive" enough for my son.

So we ended up doing the Diet Dr. Pepper + Mint Mentos, which is super explosive and fun,...although the eruption doesn't last for more than a few seconds.

He ended up getting 100% on his project :-)