Ice Castles and Volcanos

We took advantage of the warm September weather and spent most of our day in our sandbox.  I froze water in various sizes of cups and containers earlier this week anticipating the perfect day for this activity.  We put the containers in water to soften them up and get them out.  Then we used them in various ways to create ice castles.  The kids discovered that the ice was easier to handle when they were covered in dirt. 

Making castles evolved into making mountains which evolved into "can we make an eruption?".  So I brought out the baking soda and vinegar and instructed them to make a hole.  Well, T determined that it would be better to pour the baking soda into one of the cups, which we did.  I gave both of the kids cups with about 1/4 cup of vinegar in it.  They slowly took turns pouring the vinegar into the baking soda, creating carbon dioxide.  We used a whole box of baking soda.  They wanted to do this over and over again.  The "volcano" never gets old! 

This is a great science experiment for cause and effect.  You can add a little dish detergent to slow down the eruption and make the "lava" thicker.  It is fun to color it red as well. 

I keep an empty laundry container in the sand box so the kids have access to water without sand in it.  They have strict instructions not to drink the water out of it.  Although, I did wash it well, bleached and dried it out.  It is great for washing their hands off when they get dirty too!