Snow Much Fun!

The kids at D&D know there are endless possibilities for fun in the snow, which is why we decided to make volcanos on Tuesday afternoon in the bright white field of flakes.

The first step was to make mounds of snow, as big or as small as they wanted. 

Next, they decided how to insert the vinegar/baking soda lava. Educator Jen provided a variety of options like paper cone shaped cups, test tube vials, and long empty bubble wand tubes. And of course, food coloring!

There were a lot of discussions on how to perfectly pull off a great explosion. What should go in first, the vinegar or the baking soda? For well over an hour, the Club 4/5 kids experimented and explored the best way to set off the "snowcanoes".

Through trial and error we discovered three things; first, making a pile of baking soda right on the snow then pouring vinegar onto it isn't very interesting, because nothing really happens! Second, if you put food coloring directly on baking soda then pour vinegar on top, the color won't travel up into the lava. And lastly, it is not a good idea to mix the ingredients together then try to quickly close the test tube and shake it up haha! (This resulted in some stained hands.)

While some of the volcanoes didn't erupt as spectacularly as others, this proved to be a really fun way to spend an afternoon and everyone really enjoyed it. We've got future plans to make bigger, better explosions!

                                         "WOOOOOHOOOO!"