Homemade Erupting Playdough Volcano

If you are looking for a fun experiment for kids, give this Homemade Erupting Playdough Volcano a try! With just a few simple household ingredients, you can create squeals of excitement with this easy kids project.

Check out the recipe for this homemade playdough volcano and lava below to recreate it yourself.

Homemade Erupting
Playdough Volcano

Ingredients for Playdough Volcano

Playdough

• 1 cup of all purpose flour
• 1 cup warm water
• 1/4 cup table salt
• 1 1/2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 1/2 tablespoons cream of tartar

“Lava”

• Red food coloring
• White vinegar

Volcano

• Homemade playdough
• 20oz or smaller plastic bottle
• Baking soda

How to Make a Homemade Erupting Playdough Volcano

First, combine flour, salt, and cream of tartar in a small sauce pot, and mix well. Next, add in water and vegetable oil, and mix well. Now, turn the burner to medium heat and cook for 3-4 minutes while scraping the bottom and stirring constantly with a spatula.

After about 1 minute your mixture should get clumpy and after 2-3 minutes should then start to form into a ball of play dough. Let your playdough cool on a plate or piece of parchment paper for about 15 minutes before you use it.

To begin forming your playdough volcano, cut the bottom 1/2 of your plastic bottle off. Keep the cap on, turn upside down, and fill halfway with baking soda.

Next, take a small golf ball sized piece of play dough off, stick it onto the open bottom of your plastic bottle, then carefully stick onto a plate. Use the rest of the homemade playdough to stick to the sides of the plastic bottle (it helps if you start at the bottom and work your way up).

Now it’s time to head outside for this erupting playdough volcano experiment! Unscrew the lid and form the playdough around the top so you can see the lid. Add a few drops of red food coloring to your bottle of vinegar and shake with the lid on.

Remove the lid from your bottle of red vinegar and pour into the volcano to watch it erupt!

This homemade Playdough Volcano Project for kids makes for great afternoon fun. Just a few simple ingredients will have the kids busy for at least an hour as they create and erupt their volcano. Give this playdough volcano experiment a try and let me know what your kids think!