Dinosaur Volcano Small World Activity

Making baking soda and vinegar volcanoes is a kids classic for a reason. It is so much fun! My son, age 4, regularly asks if we can do this fantastically fizzy activity together.

We've made some elaborate volcanoes before but we usually keep it simple, using just the basics (vinegar, baking soda, food colouring, and a jar or bottle) to achieve the desired "volcanic" reaction. On this occasion we decided to add a few props. We grabbed some plastic dinosaurs and three jars (partially filled with baking soda) to make a dinosaur volcano small world. While I filled a pitcher with vinegar and food colouring, my son gathered pinecones, leaves, sticks, and crushed rock from our driveway to help set the scene.

Things got messy pretty quickly and the poor dinos got covered in lava. My son rescued one of them but was much more interested in making as big an eruption as he could.

If the weather is nice this is a perfect activity to take outdoors. You and your child can enjoy the thrill of the baking soda and vinegar reaction without worrying about the mess.

When we were finished with our small world we hosed everything off, dumped the crushed rock back on the driveway, and rinsed the jars in the sink.

Easy peasy!