Zig Zag 2008-11-21

0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:

If you happen to be Peter Brady, this is your volcano kit. You can really drive Alice bananas with it.

An Aerospace Engineer 2008-09-10

0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:

My 4 year old loved this. He loves projects and helped make the volcano and paint it. In fact we made two, one for his pre-K classroom. He also painted it (with help). The kit allows you to make pretty much as many volcanos as you'd like if you supply your own plaster and paint. The mold is easy to construct and durable.

We've made many, many volcanic eruptions with viegar and baking soda and it paved the way to other science kits. I highly recommend this kit.

E. Lagace 2008-09-06

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

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.

hcabats 2008-01-31

1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

we are waiting for our volcano to dry in order to be painted and then 'explode' but realized too late that we were suppose to put some type of bottle in place BEFORE we poured the plaster...anyway...i wrote to the company for help and this is what they wrote back..."In order to create the eruption, you are required to put a teaspoonful of baking soda and a few drops of washing detergent (and some red paint) into the eruption chamber. Eruption will occur when you slowly pour the vinegar into the chamber. Therefore it's no need to remove the eruption chamber." so to me this means that there was no need to add a bottle at all, but maybe the next time you make it to add a bottle instead/in place of the eruption chamber as it is now permanently embedded in the first plaster volcano...i will revise this if it doesn't work with the eruption chamber, but hope this helps anyone else confused by step2#6! so far other than that one step in the instructions the whole proccess has been very easy and not messy at all...i was set for plaster everywhere and only in the mixing bowl which rinsed easily and a little that brushed off from the plastic form joins...even my 5 year old is helping!

Suzanne Hall 2008-01-12

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

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.