Volcanoes Unit Study for Elementary & Middle School Students

This Volcanoes unit study will help your elementary and middle school students learn more about these mysterious and dangerous vents in the Earth’s crust.

Use this Volcanoes unit study with different age groups and learning abilities by changing your requirements and expectations for the different groups, while still discovering all of the facts about volcanoes.

Are your kids fascinated by the awe- (and fear) inspiring natural phenomenon that is a volcano? This Volcano Unit Study has free printables, hands-on activities, book recommendations, and online resources for your elementary and middle school students to learn about these fascinating land forms that can create as well as destroy.

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Online Volcano Resources

NatGeo Kids article for your younger kids

National Geographic Article for your older kids

Find out which volcanoes are active today at Volcano Discovery

Learn all about volcanoes with the U.S. Geologic Survey Department

Live Science lists all the types of volcanoes as well as famous volcanoes in history

A list of all the volcanoes in the United States

WeatherWiz Kids is an older site, but it has excellent volcano information presented in a kid-friendly manner.

I am a Volcanologist from the USGS

And thanks to my friends at Lyndhurst STEM Club in New Jersey for finding this amazing volcano resource at Asher & Lyric

Super simple explanation in this quick video from SciShowKids

This NatGeo video is packed with good information about volcanoes

Volcano Kits and Experiments

The Ultimate Volcano Kit by National Geographic

Volcanic Eruption and Lava Lab Kit from Amazon

DIY Make an Underwater Volcano: MomBrite

Traditional Baking Soda Volcano with a salt dough base: Little Bins for Little Hands

Create a volcanic eruption (and a big, fun mess!) with this soda experiment from Steve Spangler Science.

Make an old-school plaster cloth erupting volcano with these DIY Volcano instructions

Pop Rocks candy Volcano from Growing a Jeweled Rose

Volcano Art

No Mess Volcano Art for your younger kids: Happy Tot Shelf

How to Draw a Volcano from Super Easy Drawings

Fizzing Volcano Paint with The Craft at Home Family

Blow Art Volcano at Our Little Acorns

Volcanologist coloring page from USGS

Movies and Documentaries for your Volcanoes Unit Study

Dante’s Peak 1997 PG-13 is For your older kids only as it deals with intense themes of dying and losing family members.

NOVA: Volatile Earth: Volcano on Fire 2018 PG A NOVA documentary about the Nyiragongo volcano

Drone video footage from the Geldingadalir volcano eruption in Iceland by That Icelandic Guy

Printables for Your Volcano Unit Study

Volcano Unit Study Printables: The Unit Study Packet comes with a Label the Volcano worksheet (in 2 levels of difficulty); Life Stages of Volcanos worksheet; Unit Study Questions Printable to research and answer to learn all about volcanoes.

Plus you’ll get the Volcano Notebooking pages (there are 12 different pages) to write a report about volcanoes or for your science experiment lab report. The notebooking pages come in 3 levels for grades 1 to 8. (These printables are included in the Volcano Unit Study Packet above)

To Extend Your Volcano and Earth Science Studies

Bake Chocolate Volcano cupcakes with this recipe from Food.com

Or Make Sally’s Baking Addiction‘s Chocolate Lava Cakes

Encourage your students to learn more about the Earth’s crust

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