Sharjah International Book Fair offers powerful ways to engage children in learning. At the latest
fun and informative activity held for children at the 12-day-long event, students visiting the fair
took part in a workshop which demonstrated properties of heat and combustion using a lab-
made volcano.
The workshop called ‘Heat Up Lab’, saw kids create and paint their own ‘homemade’ model
volcano and mix various, easily-available kitchen ingredients to make it ‘erupt with lava’.
The instructor uses learning methodologies rooted in instruction through play, to enable
effective and practical learning for young children.
“This particular activity involved a homemade gypsum volcano, showing children how active
volcanoes work and erupt. The children painted the volcano in the exact natural shades and
participated in an experiment to create ‘fire’ and ‘lava’ using baking soda and vinegar, mixing it
with a little soap for the ‘eruption’ and ‘lava’ effects. It is easy and safe to do at home, without
posing a danger to children,” said the instructor.
The young participants were captivated with their little science experiment. Ahmed from
Cambridge International School, Dubai, said: “We learnt the scientific process behind a volcanic
eruption and how to replicate it in a simpler way at home.”
Kamran, another student from the same school said, “In the workshop, we used baking soda
and vinegar to create the ‘eruption’ and also soap to form the bubbles and food colouring for the
‘lava’. It was nice to recreate what we learnt about volcanoes in our school lessons.”