Building a Volcano

Laura is doing a study of volcanoes for the next few weeks until we pick up the science with Heart of Dakota.  She is reading about volcanoes, doing an ACE pace about volcanoes, and I'm planning to throw in a movie or two.

At Christmas we bought Laura a kit from Hobby Lobby for Laura to use with her dad.  We thought it would be a fun project for them to do together.  This week was the start of that project.  They had to build the volcano.

First they had to put together the plastic model.  Sounds easy, but the silly thing didn't want to stay together. So my husband taped it, then tied it with string so it couldn't fall apart while pouring the mold.

Next they mixed the plaster and poured the mold.  That was surprisingly easy.

Then, after the mold dried, came the big reveal.  Laura held the volcano in her hands, very proud of her creation. 

Then came painting the volcano so that it looks realistic.  I don't know how realistic it looks, but the two of them sure enjoyed doing this together.  That alone makes the effort worth it. 

Laura showed off the painted volcano, once again proud of their creation.  I can't blame her.  It was very cool.  Ten dollars was totally cheap for the fun Laura and her dad have had doing this project together. 

We are waiting for the paint to dry.  I was going to wait until next week to explode the volcano, but impatience has set in.  These two are planning on exploding the volcano tomorrow... on a Saturday!  Laura would normally never consider doing anything "school" related on a Saturday, but she is excited about this.  That makes me glad, and gives me even more lessons into how my daughter learns and what excites her.