History is Alive :: Volcano of Medes and Thera

I saw this post languishing around in my lists of posts, figured I should finish it!

Our history hit on how the island of Crete's people just suddenly stopped thriving there. How they moved on and the record of the Medes stops. The theory being that a eruption of the volcano in Thera caused the air, soil and water to harm the islands and the people left.

We also touched on Atlantis and Plato.

Of course we needed to make a volcano. I didn't have my stuff together well enough for the kids to make the actual structure. I cut down the bottle I had so the little bit of clay I had would fit around it. As the clay dried there were big gaps and cracks but that just gives it character, right? I got out the paint and mixed up some brown and let each kid have a turn painting it. 

Love his costume and his tongue sticking out...

When that was dry I got out the book and all the necessary ingredients.

By the way, that's a different costume on the same kid in the background...

I poured everything together and really...it exploded! The kids thought it was great. It oozed and put on a great show; getting our books, pencils and papers all gooey. I wished I had gotten a picture of it "going" but I wasn't quick enough.