4M KidzLabs Volcano Making Kit

I bought this kit for my mom and I (my mom is 60, I'm 37) and we spent 2 winter evenings building volcanoes. The kit comes in a surprisingly small box, that's because the volcano mold is made of 4 panels that snap together. The kit includes the 4 volcano panels, a volcano chimney, a small bag of plaster, and watercolor paint. The panels and chimney are made of strong plastic and will not break. It was not a completely trouble-free experience, the amount of plaster provided is not quite enough and does not allow for mistakes. Sure enough, we made a mistake on the first attempt, we waited too long between mixing the plaster and pouring it in the mold, and ended up with a mess. The solution was to go to the local store to buy a box of plaster of Paris, which allowed to make 2 volcanoes without worrying about running out. After pouring the plaster and letting it set, the mold is taken apart to reveal the "cracked" surface of the volcano, which looks nice. The chimney remains inside, that's where the mix of soda and vinegar will go. That means the kit is not intended for making more than one volcano at a time. That was a small problem to address when making the second volcano, I cut out the spout of a water bottle and used it as the chimney for the other volcano. Worked well. Once both volcanoes have hardened and dried, then came the arts part of the project: using the watercolor, make the while plaster look like a volcano. The colors include red, yellow, blue and green, and by mixing colors one can figure out how to make the desired colors. My mom and I had different styles, I went for a more authentic look with brown and green at the bottom, and orange "lava" at the top, and my mom went for a more hippie-looking volcano. They both looked great. The finished volcano is about 5 inches tall. Since we were planning on filming and photographing the volcano eruptions, we did some experimenting with soda and vinegar in the sink using small glasses. We figured out the quantities we liked, and added some food coloring to make the lava orange instead of a white foam. The result was fantastic. And then came the fun part: it was winter time in Canada, so we put the volcanoes on newspaper and the newspaper on the snow, took plenty of pictures (there were plenty of pictures at every step of the project as well), then proceeded with the eruptions. The whole family was outside to attend. They were spectacular, the lava erupted and flowed down the mountain... We had a great time with this kit, and apart from the limited quantity of plaster it is good quality and well made. That would be a fun thing to do with kids, there are several skills involved in building and painting the volcanoes, and making them erupt. Highly recommended.

We purchased this volcano for my 3rd grade son to use as a project for a book report. It was perfect and it wowed his classmates! It was very easy to make the volcano and he really enjoyed painting it when it was set. Of course the most fun was the actual erupting volcano. We had no trouble at all. It worked perfectly every time and he did it all by himself at school. If you need a large volcano, this is not the one for you. However, it was just the right size for our project. The price was terrific as well!

We purchased this and had a great evening while we were building it. Make sure to put something down before starting because there will be some mess

Great item for our kids science fair. It was age-appropriate for our 3rd and 2nd grader. They were able to mold and paint it all on their own.

People need to read the manual! The volcano mold is filled with plaster while upsidedown. The confusion over the "eruption chamber" is that ONE plastic tube (with sealed bottom end to prevent the plaster from being poured into it) is included, and will become one with the plaster inside of the volcano--the area where you add your vinegar/baking soda later--therefore the tube/eruption chamber is not reusable. The tube is basically the size of an 35mm film canister, and STAYS inside the volcano because the plaster won't allow it to budge once it is set. The volcano mold itself is reusable a zillion times, but you will need to come up with your own insert for the cavity (a plastic bottle neck with the cap on one end, an old 35mm film canister, even cardboard taped together like a 1 1/4" diameter tube will work). Obviously the bigger the "chamber" the greater amount of "lava" may be used. Whatever you put in the top (small point) of the volcano to create the recess inside the volcano will stay there forever stuck to the plaster. Plaster mixes quicker than oatmeal, and sets in 20 minutes, so no horsing around, or you will be at Michaels looking for more plaster. I added a few pictures to the product page that may be more explanatory than what I've written here. Click the "View and share related images" link.

This is a great idea -- a reusable mold for a reusable volcano, and it comes with everything except water and vinegar, easy enough. First, and only real complaint, the directions stink. They tell you to add a bottle for an enlarged eruption chamber after they told you to pour the plaster in the mold. Add the bottle first, then pour. Also, it is extremely difficult to get the plastic eruption chamber cylinder out after the mold has dried. It fell off the ring on our first try, and we had to break the mold to get it out. The second time, it fell down into the bottle, and we had to carve away a little bit of the volcano to get it out. There is nothing to grab onto. A loop with string molded into the bottom to pull it out would be great. The third time, it shifted a bit to the side, and was a PAIN to remove. It gets a bit damaged each time from stretching, pulling and poking, so I am not sure how long it will last. I see no reason it cannot be molded to the ring so it can be pulled out by the ring. On a minor note, the paint colors it comes with are inappropriate, but probably generic. White, yellow, green, red, blue and black. No brown? We mixed our own, but still. An awesome product to erupt once you finally get a complete, viable one.

Santa brought thisfor my 5 yr old who asked for LAVA this year. Thank goodness he knew exactly what to give! It worked perfectly after we used a little more baking soda than instructed. We also didn’t get it to erupt in red coloring (as shown on the box). You need to use red paint and hand soap but we only have bar soap (for now). Food coloring did not work for our first attempt. Still, lots of fun and my 5year old loved painting it and designing it and erupting it!! I also love how it is reusable and suggests how to make more (you’ll need to buy more plaster mix) and it tells you how to make another eruption chamber since this one stays in the mold. We’ll def be making more!

She had the best volcano project in class. The insert is like a pill bottle in shape and size and the mold is reusable but the little insert chamber is not. I think that using a standard prescription bottle in place of the included insert would work. Be careful to NOT move it once you have put the plaster in, the included plaster does not come to the top of the mold but you can carefully smooth it away from the middle and up the sides to make it taller. Plaster gets hot as it sets. This is a normal thing. You can buy more plaster of Paris at hobby stores if you want to make more volcanoes. Paints included work great and look good when the 12 year old used them. USE THE RUBBER BANDS to hold the mold together! She put the baking soda in a thin 1 ply of tissue first then dropped it in the vinegar. Tissue dissolves and foam comes out. Test it at home to be able to understand what ply tissue and how much baking soda and vinegar for desired effect. We added red food coloring to vinegar to make foam more lava like. Mostly it was fun and the volcano was not too heavy or cumbersome to carry by herself.

Very cool. You would just need your own bicard and vinegar for the experiment.

Einfach super. Ich habe es für den Unterricht genutzt und meine Schüler fanden es spannend.

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Regalato a mio figlio di 9 anni che sta studiando i vulcani a scuola come approfondimento pratico su come si verifichi un’eruzione ho trovato il gioco davvero semplice ma ben congeniato. All’interno della scatola si trova tutto il materiale per poter costruire col gesso il modello del vulcano ed i colori per dipingerlo. Le istruzioni sono in inglese ma comunque molto intuitive. In un paio d’ore è già tutto asciutto e pronto per far vivere l’esperienza ai bambini semplicemente aggiungendo bicarbonato ed aceto nella bocca del cratere. Impossibile fallire! Peccato solo che avevamo finito tutto il rosso per la pittura e non abbiamo potuto colorare la lava rossa sarebbe stato perfetto! Ho apprezzato che l’esperienza dell’eruzione si può ripetere tutte le volte che si vuole continuando ad aggiungere bicarbonato ed aceto. Per costruire altri vulcani è necessario comprare a parte altro gesso. Nel complesso gioco straconsigliato!!! 👍🏻

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