Making a volcano is a great way to target speech and language goals! However, make sure you do this activity outside! See an outline below and grab the full details here!
Ingredients:
Dish soap
Cold water
White vinegar
Food coloring
Baking soda slurry (fill a cup about ½ with baking soda, then fill the rest of the way with water)
Empty 2 liter soda bottle or water bottle
Instructions:
Combine the vinegar, water, dish soap and 2 drops of food coloring into the empty soda bottle.
Use a spoon to mix the baking soda slurry until it is all a liquid.
Eruption time! … Pour the baking soda slurry into the soda bottle quickly and step back!
While this is a fun activity, you can also focus on speech and language!
Articulation – while making the volcano, keep an ear open for the speech sounds your child is currently working on in therapy. For example, if your child is working on the /k/ sound you could target: cold water, volcano, food coloring, keep stirring, etc. Incorporating difficult speech sounds into play helps to reduce stress and creates natural opportunities to practice.
Sequencing – review the steps of making the volcano with your child and see if they can predict the next step while you are making the volcano! We recommend using full sentences to help incorporate transition words (e.g. First, Next, Last).