How to Make Dough for Inside a Volcano

White flour forms the base of homemade volcano dough.

Exploding volcanoes are a combination craft and science project that have delighted generations of children. By mixing baking soda, water and vinegar in an empty plastic soda bottle, you can make the contents fizz and overflow. When these ingredients are colored with red food coloring, they simulate hot lava. To build the volcano around the bottle, you need a toy clay dough. While some kids use store-bought clay dough, others prefer to make their own. By building up the dough around the soda bottle from the inside out, you can hide the bottle and build a realistic-looking volcano.

Things You'll Need

• 6 cups white flour
• 2 cups salt
• 4 tablespoons vegetable oil
• Food coloring
• Measuring cup
• Large bowl or cooking pot

Instructions

1. Empty 6 cups of white flour into a large bowl or the cooking pot.

2. Pour 2 cups of white table salt into the bowl with the flour.

3. Measure and add 4 tablespoons of vegetable oil.

4. Pour in 2 cups of water and squeeze in 10 drops of food coloring.

5. Knead the ingredients together with your hands to make the dough for the volcano. If the dough is too dry, sprinkle on a few extra drops of water at a time until it reaches a smooth, soft consistency.

References

• Ellerbruch: How to Make Volcano Dough
• Studentle; How to Make a Baking Soda Volcano; May 2011
• Homeschooling Programs; The Way to Make a Volcano for College; March 2011

Resources

• Oregon State: Play Dough Volcano Model