Volcano Toddler Activities

I don’t know about you, but my littles are intrigued by volcanoes! I created this Volcano Themed Toddler Unit to bring a bit of explosive fun to you and your little ones while learning all week about the letter Vv.

If you want to learn more about how to get started planning activities for your little ones, download my FREE guide for everything you need to know about the skill areas we incorporate into toddler school:

Lesson Components

This unit is made up of 5 lessons that will each work on the following activities:

• literacy/language
• sensory bins
• math and science activities
• fine motor activities
• gross motor activities
• art activities

Interested in downloading these volcano activities that you can print and use right away? Click on the image or button below to check them out in my TpT shop!

Fine Motor Activities

Stickers are the perfect way to practice fine motor skills, and young children love stickers! To kick off volcano week, you can introduce the letter Vv then have your child place small stickers to cover the letters V and v on the printable.

This is another fun fine motor activity to help strengthen the muscles in little hands. Using one or both thumbs, your child will place thumb prints on the volcano. Your child is sure to have a blast dipping his or her thumb into the paint and creating some exciting volcano art. Help your child as needed, since this can sometimes be a difficult skill for young children.

Your little one will love cutting the “hot lava” from each volcano in this final fine motor cutting activity. To prepare this activity, you’ll cut out two inch strips of red paper and glue the strips to the bottom of the volcanos. Give your child kid scissors to use to cut the “lava” strips from the volcanos.

Sensory Bin Activity

Sensory bins are a great teaching tool, and it’s always fun to add a little learning to the sensory bin experience. For this activity, you’ll fill a bin with black beans. You’ll add three empty dishes to the side of the bin along with the number cards to the bin. Help your child as he or she searches for the number cards hidden in the sensory bin and sorts them into the corresponding dish. Have your child identify the names of the numbers as you sort. Don’t forget to leave some extra time for free play with the bin!

Math Activity

To engage your little one in this volcano tabbed number book, first have your child color the front of the book and explain that this is a special book to practice counting volcanoes. Have your child count the volcanoes on each page and say the number. Have fun coloring the rest of the book, and make sure to keep it to revisit and read again and again!

Science Activity

If you’re doing volcano week with your little one, it’s essential that you create a volcano using salt dough! You’ll follow the directions to create the salt dough, then shape the dough around a small jar or tube. After shaping the volcano, you’ll bake the volcano and let it set and harden over a few days. Your child will have fun painting the volcano once it dries. Finally, you’ll make the volcano erupt by adding baking soda to the cavity of the volcano. When you’re ready, add vinegar and enjoy watching your child be amazed as the volcano erupts!

Gross Motor Activity

This fun gross motor activity is sure to keep your child excited and engaged while practicing those gross motor skills, coordination, and body movements. For this activity, you’ll lay out red construction paper in a row on the ground. Add a thick strip of tape on top of the construction paper. Tell your child that the red paper is lava and the tape is a bridge over the lava. Your child will walk over the “bridge” to get to the other side. Be careful not to step in the hot lava!

I hope you found some great ideas to use this week with your little ones! If you want to make teaching your toddler super simple this week, then check out my Volcano Toddler School Unit for 5 complete lesson plans and all the printables you need.

And if you need even more Toddler School ideas, check out my Toddler School Curriculum.

I hope you have fun learning, playing and exploring with your little ones!

This post may contain Amazon affiliate links. I earn a small commission each time someone makes a purchase through one of my affiliate links, which helps to support The Primary Brain blog. As always, I only recommend products that I love and all ideas shared are my own.

Written on October 18th, 2022 by Laurin Brainard