Toysmith Volcano Making Kit
by Toysmith
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Toys and Games Reviews of Toysmith Volcano Making Kit
Customer Review: This made me mom of the year!
Summary: 5 Stars
I thought I was such a cool mom for putting this on the wish list for my 3 boys for Christmas last year! They loved opening it and then it sat in the box for quite some months! They had the odd day off of school today and begged me to finally tackle this project. I feel like a bad mom for waiting so long to do something so easy, so fast and so so fun! From start to finish this whole project took 35min! Keep a paper bowl and plastic spoon ready. fyi...280ml = 1 1/4 cup) We put the mold on a cookie sheet lined with foil and paper over that. In one min or so we assembled and left plaster to set. It set in 30min and we painted for a few min. Each boy took a section. We removed the paper liner from the cookie sheet and left the foil on. The paper soaks up some residual moisture from the setting of the plaster. We have erupted this volcano over and over and over. It is very durable. I have rinsed it many times and we just dry off the little center piece and we go again. I do like food coloring for added color instead of the suggested drops of paint. I also found that a medicine dropper is easier for them to put the vinegar into the little opening. We use the ones with 1 teasp measurement and they just take turns putting their bit in! We have video taped the whole thing and you can hear them saying how great I am for letting them go this! Great bang for the buck! Highly recommended!Customer Review: Very Happy
Summary: 4 Stars
Bought for my 3 and 4 year old boys. We made filled the mold and then watched the National Geographic documentary on volcanoes to keep them interested. Here are some notes that made our experience better:
1. It is a 2-day project so tell kids in advance. Day one is making and setting the plaster in the mold; day two is for painting and eruptions.
2. Chamber - rub Vaseline around all bits of the chamber so the plaster won't harden to it. It is a super easy solution that makes the chamber removable and thus reusable many times. (Remember in grade school covering your face with Vaseline to make a plaster mask for your parents? Right, same idea here.) After about 20 minutes simply give the chamber a tug and slide it out before the plaster completely dries and hardens (over night). The Vaseline keeps it from sticking.
3. Use twice the baking soda and vinegar as suggested or the eruption is underwhelming.
4. Use food color instead of paint in the chamber mixture. Paint doesn't dissolve as uniformly at all.
5. Remember it is a small mold - roughly producing a 6" volcano - so don't expect a centerpiece for your table. The smaller size, however, makes it extremely manageable! We set ours in an 8x8 baking pan for the eruptions for easy clean-up.
Good luck. The kit is a WONDERFUL value.
Customer Review: Great kit! RTFM folks.
Summary: 5 Stars
People need to read the manual! The volcano mold is filled with plaster while upsidedown.
The confusion over the "eruption chamber" is that ONE plastic tube (with sealed bottom end to prevent the plaster from being poured into it) is included, and will become one with the plaster inside of the volcano--the area where you add your vinegar/baking soda later--therefore the tube/eruption chamber is not reusable.
The tube is basically the size of an 35mm film canister, and STAYS inside the volcano because the plaster won't allow it to budge once it is set. The volcano mold itself is reusable a zillion times, but you will need to come up with your own insert for the cavity (a plastic bottle neck with the cap on one end, an old 35mm film canister, even cardboard taped together like a 1 1/4" diameter tube will work).
Obviously the bigger the "chamber" the greater amount of "lava" may be used. Whatever you put in the top (small point) of the volcano to create the recess inside the volcano will stay there forever stuck to the plaster.
Plaster mixes quicker than oatmeal, and sets in 20 minutes, so no horsing around, or you will be at Michaels looking for more plaster.
I added a few pictures to the main page that may be more explanatory than what I've written here.
Customer Review: A great idea, but needs upgrade
Summary: 3 Stars
This is a great idea -- a reusable mold for a reusable volcano, and it comes with everything except water and vinegar, easy enough. First, and only real complaint, the directions stink. They tell you to add a bottle for an enlarged eruption chamber after they told you to pour the plaster in the mold. Add the bottle first, then pour. Also, it is extremely difficult to get the plastic eruption chamber cylinder out after the mold has dried. It fell off the ring on our first try, and we had to break the mold to get it out. The second time, it fell down into the bottle, and we had to carve away a little bit of the volcano to get it out. There is nothing to grab onto. A loop with string molded into the bottom to pull it out would be great. The third time, it shifted a bit to the side, and was a PAIN to remove. It gets a bit damaged each time from stretching, pulling and poking, so I am not sure how long it will last. I see no reason it cannot be molded to the ring so it can be pulled out by the ring. On a minor note, the paint colors it comes with are inappropriate, but probably generic. White, yellow, green, red, blue and black. No brown? We mixed our own, but still. An awesome product to erupt once you finally get a complete, viable one.Customer Review: we'll see....
Summary: 3 Stars
we are waiting for our volcano to dry in order to be painted and then 'explode' but realized too late that we were suppose to put some type of bottle in place BEFORE we poured the plaster...anyway...i wrote to the company for help and this is what they wrote back..."In order to create the eruption, you are required to put a teaspoonful of baking soda and a few drops of washing detergent (and some red paint) into the eruption chamber. Eruption will occur when you slowly pour the vinegar into the chamber. Therefore it's no need to remove the eruption chamber." so to me this means that there was no need to add a bottle at all, but maybe the next time you make it to add a bottle instead/in place of the eruption chamber as it is now permanently embedded in the first plaster volcano...i will revise this if it doesn't work with the eruption chamber, but hope this helps anyone else confused by step2#6! so far other than that one step in the instructions the whole proccess has been very easy and not messy at all...i was set for plaster everywhere and only in the mixing bowl which rinsed easily and a little that brushed off from the plastic form joins...even my 5 year old is helping!