Homemade Clay and Volcanoes

I made homemade clay with my nephews the other day. This is a really easy recipe that you can make with ingredients that you probably have at home already. After letting them play with it for a while, we turned it into a volcano with baking soda and vinegar.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup white flour
• 1/2 cup salt
• 2 tablespoon cream of tartar (find it in the spice section)
• 1 tablespoon oil
• 1 cup water
• food coloring (gel food coloring will give you the most vivid colors)

For Volcano:

• empty medicine bottle
• baking soda
• vinegar

Directions:

1. Mix together all the dry ingredients in a medium sauce pan. Mix together the water and food coloring until combined. Add the colored water to the dry ingredients and mix together. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until it starts to come together, about 3-5 minutes.

2. The dough will start to clump and become difficult to stir. At this point remove it from the pan and knead it for about 5 minutes. (Have your kids help with this). Store in an air tight container or a Ziploc baggie in the fridge.

To Make the Volcano:

1. Mold the clay into a volcano shape. Create an opening and squish in an empty medicine bottle or small container.

2. Pour some baking soda into the medicine bottle. Pour some vinegar into the opening after the baking powder and watch it foam and bubble up. If you want to, add red or orange food coloring to the vinegar to make it look more like lava.

Note: I am not sure at what temperature or for how long, but you could probably bake it to make a more sturdy volcano. I rinsed the dough off with water and kneaded in a little bit more flour and let the kids keep playing with it. It kind of smelled like vinegar, but it was still usable.