Thanks to everyone who participated this week.  We had some great submissions!  We can’t tell you how much fun it is for us to see your pictures and read your stories.

On Monday, we asked for stories about volcanos and you answered with some great ones! Here are a couple of your stories…

“Volcano Volnayno in my Cano”

By Tyler

A volcano called Rashkie had trees on it and it was about to explode. All the other volcanoes were not erupting. The trees on Rashkie connected to trees on other volcanoes. When Rashkie exploded, he burned all the other volcanoes (even his mom and dad) around him because they were attached. The trees were quite big, so when they burned down, the oceans got quite hot, too, and the stuff in the ocean died. Rashkie had one friend named Crash n’ Bump who was not connected, so Crash n’ Bump did not explode and lived happily ever after?!

The End

I love the idea of a network of trees holding the landscape together. And what a sad story, with all the burning and the hot water and the stuff in the ocean dying. Thank goodness Crash n’ Bump lived happily ever after, even if no one else did. And I was sure that “Crash ‘n Bump” was the name of some Pokemon or something, but a quick Google search suggested (at least on page one) that there hasn’t yet been a character named Crash n’ Bump. I kind of think it’s a genius name, so you should copyright it right now, Tyler!

Huck thought it would be neat if the lava turned into something . . . He writes:

Once there was a volcano. The time it erupted something weird happened. All the lava that was coming down became Lava Men! The Lava Men went all the way down the volcano and spread out everywhere.

I have to say, there was lots of wishful thinking going on when we asked in the KidQuiz what you’d like to see come out of a volcano you designed (most of them were delicious edible treats), but NO ONE suggested Lava Men. I am sincerely hoping that Huck writes a comic book called “Lava Men” – I will be the first in line to buy it, I promise.

On Tuesday, we asked to see your volcano drawings. Here are some of our faves!

This one is by Anna.  She said:

Here is Anna’s drawing of a volcano. Also in the drawing are a tiger, kitten, lion, and bear. They are probably going to visit the dinosaur dentist who lives in the volcano, because their teeth hurt.

I like how you can kind of tell that their teeth hurt. Their smiles aren’t quite as big as they could be, their teeth are sticking out, and their eyes are looking hopefully toward the top of the volcano where the dinosaur dentist is. And I just had a funny thought – I hope the dinosaur dentist isn’t a T Rex! He sure would have trouble getting those delicate teeth-cleaning instruments in your mouth with his tiny hands! In fact, now that I think of it, there’s a whole book about just that sort of problem, called T-Rex Trying. But back to the drawing – so great! I love how you’ve captured the camaraderie of the friends on their quest.

And here is a drawing by MJ:

MJ wanted to draw Olympus Mons, the largest volcano in the solar system! It is HUGE! She also wanted there to be magma AND lava in her picture. And a little green martian too, since Olympus Mons is on Mars. Actually, if Olympus Mons is the biggest volcano in the solar system, then that martian must also be HUUUUUGE!!

MJ had been over at our house for a playdate when we did our volcano drawings and read about volcanos. When we were talking about how some volcanos built up from the bottom of the ocean slowly over time and eventually became islands, she asked where the sand on the beaches came from, if lava is melted rock, and just cools back to rock again – not sand. I thought this was a pretty great question, but didn’t really know the answer. Well, it turns out that sand is just different kinds of rock (and sometimes shells) that has been crushed into little teensy tinsy pieces and washed down through rivers and streams to wherever they end up (usually the ocean). Those grains of sand then often get washed up onto beaches over a very long period of time. [Please, someone, if you know more about this than I do, which is pretty much anyone who has any knowledge beyond Yahoo answers, write me with a less pedestrian/more accurate answer!]. Anyway – all of this is a long way of saying I came across some amazing photos of sand magnified to see what the grains actually look like – they look like all kinds of stuff!

This photo was taken by a scientist named Dr. Gary Greenberg – you can see more amazing photos of sand HERE on his website, or order the book for your coffee table HERE. Anyway. Sorry for getting sidetracked, but thought it was a good question with some beautiful photos in the answer.

Onwards!

On Wednesday, you participated in the volcano Kid Quiz.  We asked you if you could design your own volcano, what would come out of it.

Harry said, “My volcano shoots out green Slurpee lava and I can drink from it any time I want.”

My question for Harry was: what does green Slurpee lava turn into when it cools off…? I think I have the answer:

Melody said “My volcano is made out of chocolate and shoots out candies like lollipops, gumdrops, and bubble gum.”

Arthur suggested “A cake.”

And over on Facebook, Moms and Dads had their own ideas.

Speech bubbles
Jokes and popcorn
Failed TV pilots
Meatballs
Glitter
Chocolate
Kimchee (and then breath mints shortly following)
and last but not least….Fluffernutter.

I’m pretty sure that the choices people made about what would come out of their volcanos actually says a whole lot about them. There should be some sort of psychological quiz that includes that question. You can learn a lot from an imaginary volcano.

I learned just two days ago (well into volcano week) that there is a volcano that has blue lava. Wow!

The photos were taken by Olivier Grunewald, who travels the world taking beautiful photos of volcanos. This blue volcano is in Indonesia, and the lava is blue because of sulphur in it. Learn more about it HERE or check out the trailer for the documentary about it HERE (spoiler alert: it’s in French. Skip to the 1-minute mark to start seeing footage of the blue lava). Now, blue lava isn’t green Slurpee or lollipops, but I’d say it’s pretty awesome nonetheless.

In summary:

We hope you had fun learning about volcanos this week. We actually learned a lot, and very much enjoyed reading and looking at your contributions.

And now for this week’s big winner: Anna, of the festive troupe going to the dinosaur dentist – YOU ARE NOW, OFFICIALLY, OUR VOLCANO EXPERT! Congratulations!! Here’s your trophy!

We hope you can find time in your busy schedule as the new ambassador to volcanos to color in your trophy and send us a picture of it! And don’t forget, we’ll be sending you an archival print of this week’s illustration (which, by the way, you can still get for less than a dollar on ebay right now).

And now that we have thoroughly exhausted you on the topic of volcanos, we’re on to the next thing: are you as excited to find out next week’s theme as we are? Check back tomorrow (Saturday) to find out!