Easy Outdoor Color Changing Volcano with Baking Soda and Vinegar
This color-changing volcano eruption for kids takes an easy baking soda and vinegar volcano to the next level! Making a volcano is an essential science experiment for kids. This outdoor volcano will thrill kids and adults while introducing the powerful combination of baking soda and vinegar.
This is a great outdoor activity for summertime or any season! If you are looking for themes for your preschool year, take a look at our ultimate guide to preschool themes!
We figured out how to make a quick three-minute volcano back in my post about our easy baking soda volcano eruption for kids. Yes, three minutes to prepare, and then we wash the volcano away with the garden hose! Talk about the easiest volcano ever! Plus, the kids ask to do it over and over again.
Now, we’ve figured out how to make it color-changing, and it is just as awesome!
Plus, children will also get to see color theory in action as two colors are poured into the volcano and a new color comes bubbling out.
We even made a video of this awesome color-changing volcano that you can see later in the post!
Easy Color Changing Volcano with Baking Soda and Vinegar for Kids
Inside of a real volcano is a hot liquid called magma. Once it heats up and begins pouring out of the mouth of the volcano, it becomes red-hot lava. A volcano experiment does not undergo the same reaction as a real volcano, but it will get children thinking and wondering. It’s an awesome way to include some STEM learning in your preschool curriculum.
Materials:
- Plastic cup
- 1 cup water
- 3-6 Tbsp of baking soda or bicarb (we usually do 4-6 which makes it extra foamy and will do 2-3 eruptions)
- 1 tsp of dish soap
- 1 tbsp each washable tempera paint in 2 or more primary colors
- 1 cup (8 oz) of vinegar to start with per eruption…then they’ll be asking for more 🙂
- Pitcher
- Sand or Pebble Rock
Tips for Success
- We use washable tempera paint because it comes out nice and bright. But if you prefer food coloring, then you can definitely use it. Food coloring does stain, so that’s why I avoided it.
- To make it color-changing, choose primary colors. We used red paint and then blue paint to make purple. Then we did blue and yellow. And of course, you can do red and yellow.
- Use an area (preferably outside) with pea gravel, sand, or dirt to eliminate messes.
The Setup
You are going to combine what I call the “base ingredients.”
- Water
- Baking soda or bicarb
- Dish soap
- Washable Paint (this is one of our favorite brands)
- Begin by combining the “base ingredients.” Put the water inside of the plastic cup. Fill it about 2/3 full.
2. Add the baking soda, dish soap, and the first tempera paint color washable paint.
3. Set the cup with the solution into the mound.
How to make a color-changing baking soda and vinegar eruption for kids
1. Give it a good stir just before adding the last ingredient (the vinegar). Put the vinegar into a pitcher. Invite a child to pour it into the cup at the top of the volcano until it starts foaming over with bubbly lava. Have extra vinegar ready to create more colorful bubble lava.
Enjoy the colorful eruption!
2. Now time to make it color-changing! Repeat step 2. This time, use two primary colors instead of just one. Tell the children the colors that you added and ask them to guess the new color that it will make. Repeat the process and watch as the new color is revealed in the bubbly lava. Add your second primary color.
3. Stir really well! And watch it change color again!
Try an Ice Cream Volcano Too!
As an extension, make an ice cream volcano! Put ice cream in a big bowl as the base of the volcano. Then, add some root beer to see what happens. Compare the two eruptions – baking soda versus root beer. What did you notice?
Color Changing Baking Soda and Vinegar Eruption for Kids Video
And now here you can see it in action!
Clean Up
This is the best part! Usually, cleaning up volcanoes takes forever. Not this time.
Just pull out the garden hose, and wash it all away.
Almost all clean.
You can’t even tell we’ve spent the last 20 minutes having a blast!
Want to see some more ways to use baking soda as a great learning tool for children? Here are our favorite fun and easy baking soda and science experiments.
Yield: 3 color-changing eruptions
Easy Color-Changing Volcano
Materials
- Plastic Cup
- 12-14 oz water
- 4-6 TBSP baking soda
- 1 tsp dish soap
- 1-2 oz washable paint or food coloring
- 24 oz vinegar, divide
Instructions
- Place a plastic cup in a mound of dirt or rocks.
- Fill the cup 2/3 with water
- Add 4-6 tablespoons baking soda
- Add 1-2 oz paint or food coloring, depending on the intensity of the desired color
- Stir well to combine
- Add approx. 8 oz vinegar, or until the “lava” starts foaming over
- Enjoy the eruption!
- Add another color of paint or food coloring and mix well
- Pour on another 8 oz vinegar to erupt avain
- Add a third color and mix well
- Add the remaining vinegar to erupt a third time
- For clean-up, wash away with a garden hose
Notes
This works best with primary colors of paint or food coloring, but experiment to see what combinations you like best!
Katie has spent 17 combined years in the Early Childhood field as a teacher, preschool owner, and educational writer. She has worked in profit and non-profit programs, high-risk schools, and started an in-home preschool and outdoor collaborative preschool program. She adores being a mom to three children, and her youngest is currently in preschool.
