Playdough Volcano Kids Science Activity

Did you know you can make a volcano erupt using playdough, baking soda, and vinegar? Try this hands-on kids science activity and make learning fun! My kids really enjoyed making colorful playdough volcanoes. We used a few simple ingredients we had in the kitchen to create fizzy chemical reactions!

This fun science project is a great way to introduce kids to chemistry. You can teach your kids how to create a hypothesis and write a lab report, to turn it into a thorough experiment.

How to Make a Playdough Volcano

To make a playdough volcano, first you’ll need to gather some basic supplies. This activity demonstrates the simple chemical reaction caused by mixing baking soda and vinegar.

Supplies: plastic tray, playdough, baking soda, vinegar, food coloring, red glitter

Hypothesis: Mixing baking soda and vinegar inside a playdough volcano will cause it to erupt into fizzy bubbles.

First, you’ll need a quantity of playdough. You can either use multiple jars of store bought Play-Doh or make a batch of homemade playdough. Keep in mind the playdough will get soggy during this experiment.

I recommend making a batch of homemade playdough, to create a decent amount. Kids can pick their favorite colors of food coloring to mix into the homemade play dough. You can find my favorite homemade playdough recipe here.

6 Quick Steps for Playdough Volcanoes

1. Gather supplies – You’ll need playdough (homemade or store bought), baking soda, white vinegar, food coloring, a spoon, and a tray with sides.
2. Shape the volcano – Form playdough into a mountain shape with sloped sides, any size works.
3. Hollow out the top – Press a small well into the peak, big enough to hold a spoonful of baking soda.
4. Set it on a tray – This contains the eruption and keeps the mess off your floor.
5. Add baking soda and colored vinegar – Scoop baking soda into the hollow, mix food coloring into a small container of vinegar, then pour it in slowly.
6. Watch it erupt, then repeat! – Dump the liquid off the tray and go again. More baking soda makes bigger, longer-lasting eruptions.

Shape the Volcano

Begin with enough playdough to form a small or medium mountain-shaped volcano. Volcanoes can be all shapes and sizes, with sloped sides and even situated on an island. Then, create a small hollow in the top of the volcano, to hold a scoop of baking soda. Be sure to place your volcano on a tray with sides, to keep the baking soda and vinegar eruption from spilling onto the floor.

Create a Playdough Volcano Chemical Reaction

Next comes the fun part! Scoop a spoonful of baking soda into the top of your playdough volcano. Then mix a small container of vinegar with a few drops of food coloring. Carefully pour the colored vinegar into the top of the volcano. When the vinegar mixes with the baking soda, it will create a fizzy chemical reaction.

My kids used multiple colors of playdough to shape their play dough volcanoes. The colorful vinegar really made these bubbly volcanic reactions stand out!

The Science Behind the Eruption

So what’s actually happening inside the volcano? Baking soda is a base and vinegar is an acid. When they mix, they react to form carbon dioxide, the same gas that puts the fizz in soda. The gas bubbles form faster than they can escape, so they push their way up and out of the volcano’s opening, carrying the colored liquid with them in a foamy overflow. That’s your lava! This is a true chemical reaction, meaning the baking soda and vinegar combine to create entirely new substances: carbon dioxide gas, water, and a dissolved salt. It’s also why the eruption eventually stops. Once all the baking soda has reacted, there’s nothing left to make bubbles. Ask your kids to predict what happens if they add more baking soda, then test it and see!

Repeat the Eruptions

We learned that we could do this chemical reaction over and over again. We experimented with different colors of vinegar and different amounts of baking soda. My kids especially loved sprinkling some red glitter over the top of their playdough volcanoes, and watching it flow in sparkly streams down the sides.

My kids learned that more baking soda created larger, longer lasting eruptions. The eruption was smaller when they scooped less baking soda into their playdough volcanoes.

Contain the Chemical Reaction

Building these volcanoes on a tray is very important to contain the baking soda and vinegar chemical reaction. Of course, the liquid causes the sides of the playdough volcano to get sticky. To prevent messes, we carefully dumped the liquid off the tray when it began filling up. We also allowed the volcanoes to dry out, for later use. In fact, my kids played with their playdough volcanoes for several days in a row, until we ran out of baking soda and vinegar!

Creative Fizzy Science

Easily make playdough volcanoes using any color of playdough. Using homemade playdough is helpful because you can mix up a large quantity. Alternatively, you can also use several jars of store bought Play-Doh.

Kids will have a blast making their play dough volcanoes any shape or size, with a hollow in the top to hold the baking soda. Mix white vinegar with food coloring, and pour on different colors of vinegar to watch the playdough volcano erupt!

White vinegar mixed with blue food coloring makes this play dough volcano look like it’s situated in the ocean. The spots of red glitter look like traces of lava.

Kids can easily do this fun science activity on their own with a little bit of instruction. Making playdough volcanoes erupt with baking soda and vinegar is also fun to do with friends! Additionally, this interactive project goes well with a unit study about volcanoes. It’s always a win to combine chemistry, earth science and fun!

Find more creative activities for kids on our Kids Activities page!

Playdough Volcanoes FAQ

Why do baking soda and vinegar erupt? – Since vinegar is an acid and baking soda is a base, they react to form carbon dioxide. The rapidly escaping bubbles are what makes the “lava” foam up and overflow.

How do you make a playdough volcano erupt bigger? – More baking soda makes larger, longer-lasting eruptions. Our kids tested this themselves. Less baking soda made noticeably smaller eruptions.

Can you reuse a playdough volcano? – Yes! Dump the liquid off the tray between eruptions, or let the volcano dry out for later. Ours lasted several days of repeat eruptions.

What age is this activity for? – Preschoolers can shape and pour with help; elementary kids can run it independently and record results as a lab report.