Before
After, showing pump and tube
Before |
After, showing pump and tube |
Many students build a volcano as a school project. This one looks great, works well, and is edible too!
A small plastic bottle forms a container for the lava. Choose a bottle appropriate for the size of volcano you are making. Realize that it takes lots of mountain material to build a large volcano! The volcano picture above was made with 5 batches.
A small hand-held water balloon pump, available at toy stores, is attached to a piece of flexible plastic tubing, available at hardware stores, pet shops, etc.
This tube can simply pass under the mountain, or for better appearance mount the volcano on a large flat cardboard box and pass the tubing through the box and out the side. IF you are using a box, make holes and pass the tubing through the box now.
The tubing passes through a small hole in the bottle. Pass it all the way up through and out the top, where you can attach a balloon. The pull the tube back down so the balloon is in the bottom of the bottle. Fix the tube in place and seal the opening with wax, hot glue, or similar. If you intend to eat the results, seal it with something non-toxic.
The main mountain material is Rice Krispy Treats. The recipe can be found on any cereal box of at the Rice Krispies web site. The mountain is shaped from this material, and then coated with peanut butter playdough (recipe below) and/or frosting. Use chocolate and vanilla frosting in various mixtures to create a variety of shades of color. Other edible materials can be used as well. Spray frosting, available in the cake decorating section of many grocery stores, comes in green and can be used to spray on realistic looking green colors.
The lava can be a variety of materials including honey colored red with food coloring, strawberry flavored ice cream topping, whipped topping thinned and dyed red, etc. Red sprinkles, red colored sugar, bits of marshmallow cream, or other "additives" gane give it a chuhnky, textured look if desired.
Fill the bottle with lava material, and pump up the ballon with the hand pump, pushing the lava out of the bottle and down the sides of the volcano.
PEANUT BUTTER DOUGH INGREDIENTS:
* 3 1/2 cups peanut butter
* 4 cups confectioners' sugar
* 3 1/2 cups honey
* 4 cups dry milk powder
© Copyright 2004 by Bill Lovegrove. All rights reserved.
Last Updated 11/15/2004