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The Eruptor

Volcanic Eruption

Students will let off some steam as they learn about volcanic eruptions and their causes.

Lesson Plan

Supplies Needed

Gather all the supplies needed to bring your craft ideas to life! From paints and markers to glue and scissors, our crafts section has everything to spark creativity and make every project truly special.

  • Cardboard
  • Cotton Balls
  • Paper

Steps

  • Step 1

    Volcanoes are types of mountains that have craters, magma, and lava. Have students learn some facts about volcanoes. For example a volcanic mountain is made up of lava and rocks after several eruptions. Why do volcanoes erupt? What is magma? What is lava? What is the temperature of fresh lava? What is emitted from small vents within the volcano before lava spews out? What are stratovolcanoes? What are shield volcanoes? What signs can warn us of an impending volcanic eruption?

  • Step 2

    Have student teams create a model of an erupting volcano. They can sculpt the volcanic mountain using Model Magic to cover a cardboard base. They should leave the center (crater) hollow and add wisps of cotton balls to indicate the steam that hisses out of the crater before an eruption. They can partially blend red, brown, and black Model Magic to create layers and rolls that resemble the flow of magma and lava.

  • Step 3

    When their volcanoes are done, have each team present their volcano to the class and discuss some of the facts they learned about volcanic eruptions.

Standards

SCI: Design pictorial or graphic representations/models that are useful in communicating ideas. 

SCI: Explore similarities and differences in patterns and use them to sort, classify, communicate, and analyze natural phenomena and change.

Adaptations

Have students learn about Mount Tambora, a volcano in Indonesia whose 1815 eruption was the largest and most powerful documented. It caused devastation across the globe. Areas of the northern hemisphere suffered extreme weather conditions, and 1816 became known as the "year without a summer."

Ask students to explore the benefits that volcanoes provide. For example, volcanic materials ultimately break down and form some of the most fertile soils on Earth. And most of the mined metallic minerals, such as copper, gold, silver, lead, and zinc, are associated with magmas found deep within the roots of extinct volcanoes.