Ice Cream Volcano Experiment – Summer Science Activity for Kids

Kids will be excited to learn and explore when making this ice cream volcano! This is a combination of an ice cream activity and easy volcano experiments for one EPIC, memorable summer activity for kids! Try this summer experiment as part of your ice cream theme with toddler, preschool, pre-k, kindergarten, first grade, 2nd grade, and 3rd graders. This project causes a super cool, baking soda and vinegar reaction that will create a fun WOW moment for kids!

Ice Cream Volcano

Looking for a fun, clever, and unique ice cream activity that is also educational? Create a foaming, oozing ice cream volcano with a few simple ingredients – you may even have all the ingredients already in your kitchen! You will love this easy science experiment perfect for a summer bucket list idea or as part of an ice cream lesson. This summer science includes the ice cream activities plus science and a volcano experiment explanation to make kids have fun and learn during the summer months. Seriously, this is too cute!

Looking for more kindergarten science experiments, creative ice cream activities, or fun summer activities for kindergarten? We’ve got lots of resources including easy paper bag lungs and free summer coloring pages!

Ice Cream Activity

All you need to try this fun ice cream experiment for kids are a few simple materials you probabaly already have at home!

• ice cream cone – I think the pointy sugar cones look the best
• 2 Tablespoons warm water
• empty plastic bottle
• food coloring
• 1 teaspoon rapid yeast
• squirt of dish soap
• 1/2 cup hydrogen peroxide 6% or higher solution
• sprinkles, chocolate chips – optional, for look only
• baking dish – to contain the experiment

Summer Experiment

Start by carefully cutting off the bottom pointy part of your ice cream sugar cone. If you are using a flat bottom cake cone just poke a large 2″ hole. You want to keep the hole semi-small to force the erruption to go up and out your ice cream cone volcano.

Summer Science Experiments

We used  an empty water bottle, but you can use any personal size plastic bottle. Fill the bottle with 2 Tab. warm water, food coloring to make the ice cream flavor of your choice , and 1 tsp. rapid rise yeast. Put lid on and shake to mix. Now open the bottle back up and add a squirt of dish soap. Now pour in 1/2 cup 6% hydrogen peroxide (it must be at least 6% to make the chemical reaction occur).

Volcano Experiments

Quickly top upside down ice cream cone. The volcano experiment for kids will begin errupting quickly. Here you can see the beginning of the mint chip ice cream peaking out ver the cone volcano.

Ice Cream Theme

It will make a volcano that fizzes and erupts. See how thick, foamy, and fizzy the ice cream lava is flowing down the summer volcano. 

Easy volcano experiments

We tossed in some chocolate sprinkles for added efect. Remember, this is not an edible volcano experiment! But they added to the cool ice cream theme activity and it was fun to watch them get swept up in the moving erruption and flow down the mountain and base.

Baking soda and vinegar reaction

The cake coke works, but in my opinion it doesn’t look quite as cool. But use whateve ryou have on hand!

Hydrogen Peroxide Volcano

My kids had so much fun with this summer science project they wanted to do lots of variations! Here is our blue birthday cake ice cream volcano erruption. Here The sprinkles were not only fun to watch ooze down the blue lava, but it was fun to watch the colors bleed into the foam for swirls of pretty color.

Summer Science

This is truly an EPIC summer experiment your kids will remember for year and years to come! The erruptions really do look like ice cream (again not consumable) which thrilled my kids. Plus, this is a SUPER easy science experiment that will be ready in 5 minutes flat! I love quick summer activities for kids!

Volcano Experiment Explanation

This volcano uses a slightly different mixture to make the volcano errupt. It is sometimes known as elephant toothpaste. Basically, the hydrogen peroxide volcano is a chemistry science experiment that demonstartes how two substances produce a chemical reaction, In this elephant toothpaste experiment the yeast works as a catalyst to speed up the process that happens naturally, just at a slower pace. The hydrogen peroxide naturally breaks down into water and oxygen (2H2O2 –› 2H2O + O2). So what you are actually watching is yeast helping hydrogen perioside to decompose into water and oxygen. WE get the fun bubble action to make the decomposition process more exciting by adding in some dish soap.