How To Make an Ice Volcano (no ice required)

Get ready for a twist on a kid’s science classic! The famous Volcano Experiment! 

All of a sudden my son became really into volcanoes; I mean everything was lava — the floor, the walls, the blankets. In fact, driving down the street one day, my son decided that all of the houses were volcanoes, and lava was pouring out of the windows onto the street and following us. My husband and I decided we should do the famous “build a volcano” demonstration with him because he would probably be in awe.  

Well, before we did it, my son watched an episode of Blaze and the Monster Machines in which Blaze and AJ had to deal with ice volcanoes (which aren’t actually real volcanoes, but still pretty cool). That was just too much, he was hooked, now everything was ice and all sorts of other stuff erupting from ice volcanoes that were all over the place and creating holes everywhere. 

So, we decided to carry on with the volcano demonstration, but we made it an ice volcano instead. (It’s basically the same thing, we just changed the colors) 😂

Here’s what you need:

Baking sheet, Play-doh in colors of your choice to create your volcano; a tube (we used a small piece of PVC pipe).

One teaspoon of baking soda, about 3/4 cup white vinegar, food coloring (we used blue for the “ice”, and a funnel (optional)

• Play-Doh
• Tube (we used PVC pipe)
• Baking Soda
• White Vinegar
• Food Coloring
• Funnel (optional but helpful)
• Baking Sheet
• Miscellaneous materials of your choice to create your “volcano scene”

Now let the fun begin! We (quickly) sculpted up our volcano around the PVC tube. (Design aesthetic was not the top priority here; I mean I am working with a three-year-old – so adjust as desired to your kid’s age and attention span) 😉

We used a piece of Play-Doh to mount the tube in place and started to build up the other colors around it to create our volcano. 🌋

Then we added in some crinkly white paper strips (snow) and my son added his personal touch of a jeep and polar bear, plus a foil mountain in the background. You can make your volcano vista your very own with whatever you and your kids fancy.

Then comes the science! We put one teaspoon of baking soda into the tube (this is where the funnel comes in handy so you don’t end up with more baking soda outside of your volcano than in).  Then we poured 3/4 cup white vinegar into a measuring cup and mixed in a few drops of blue food coloring.

Then it was time for the fun! Remove the funnel if you used one, and then slowly pour in the vinegar; then, watch your volcano erupt to shrieks of glee from your kids. My son kept apologizing to his polar bear that he just couldn’t save him, even though he was trying very hard. 😂

Have a “blast” with your volcano until it fizzles it out…or you can use my son’s method and plug it up with a polar bear, that works too.

Enjoy! If you give this a try with your kids, I would love to see it! Share in the comments! 🙂

Looking for some other fun ideas and activities to do with your kids? Check out these ways to have fun when you have to stay around the house and these fun learning toys for preschoolers! 🙂