How to Make a Playdough Volcano

Well, have you recently encouraged your child and revealed the secret of pure play? If you haven't, then this is indeed your prime opportunity to introduce your child to the power of natural play.

With times radiating at different tunes each day, galloping away to reach out to kids to make them technologically smarter, one often forgets that nature holds a vast array of opportunities to explore. Playing with playdough is one forgotten art-cum-craft that needs a revamp.

Fabricating playdough is indeed child's play! You may experiment and challenge your imagination to make minuscule amusements such as a bow tie or a hat, little sashes and dresses, Halloween pumpkins, huts or carve out human features on the dough base. Another fun loving piece that you may self-manufacture is a dough volcano.

Hold on! Why not make the playdough all by ourselves for the activity to become all the more 'your very own'? Making playdough is a fun activity, too, and you would love to indulge into the process.

This is a basic playdough recipe that you may need for fabricating the volcano. Here are the steps that you need to follow.

Make arrangements of the ingredients required for the dough. You would prepare your play counter with:

☻ 2 to 3 cups of flour
☻ ½ to 1 cup of salt
☻ 1 cup of lukewarm water
☻ Lime juice with dropper
☻ Glycerin/Vegetable oil
☻ Color (Your Choice!)

☛ With a large bowl, preferably the one you no more include as a kitchen accessory or container, may be considered ideal.
☛ Pound the flour and salt into the container.

☛ The next step becomes a bit tricky. It would be better if you are to aid your child with the proceedings. You need to pour water cautiously and steadily into the bowl of flour and salt.

The reason behind asking you to be consistent with a slim drainage of water is that the flour and the salt may form clumps, thus ruining the smooth consistency that the dough must possess. The dough instead, becomes granular sporting a clumpy demeanor.

☛ Consider a flat surface for kneading the dough. Choose your child's favorite hue and add a few drops of it during the dough making activity. Adding glycerin or vegetable oil with restraint could facilitate the kneading process. Let the dough be soft and not sticky. It should be in the position of being molded and shouldn't be moist.

☛ To be on a safer side, add a few drops of lime juice to ensure the dough is not too soft and can withstand being molded into the shape of a volcano.

Yes, let us begin the process by undertaking some fun and easy-to-execute steps.

☻ Playdough
☻ 1 flat tray
☻ Rolling pin
☻ 1 roll of silver foil
☻ 2 to 3 paper cups
☻ Pen knife

☻ 3 to 4 teaspoons of baking soda
☻ 1 to 1½ cup of white vinegar
☻ Color with a dropper

☛ Lay out a tray that will hold the volcanic eruption. Place a paper cup on the tray and with the silver foil wind the cup starting from the brim, coiling it further to completely cover the cup. Ensure the rim, wound with foil, is very sturdy.

☛ Now, flatten the playdough with a rolling pin or simply knead with your hand and flatten it thoroughly. As you have your virtual mountain ready, you may edge the foil rimmed cup with the flattened dough. You may need to flatten a few more chunks of playdough to make the cup look like a 'cloned' mountain.

When you are done with the volcanic stance, you may move on to making the lava. However, making the lava is an on-the-spot activity. So preparing and preserving it, is not what we are supposed to do in here.

When you are done place the homemade volcanic mountain on the tray and add 3 teaspoons of baking soda into the mountain (the insides of the cup). Mix 1 cup of white vinegar and a few drops of color into another paper cup. Pour this mixture into the volcanic mountain and voila!

You have Your Mt. Dough erupt in your very own premises. Parents; just be around when your children are conducting the activity. It is not a dangerous activity to perform though, as it is just an elementary acidic reaction. However, there is nothing wrong in being around when the volcanic proceedings are taking place!

With these tips and steps, you may have a fun-filled blast at home! It is indeed one explosion that may serve you with laughter and joy. It surely has the potential to harm none, and charm all!