Autumn is well and truly here and we're starting to get in the spirit for Halloween. The beginning of October meant that we started our Halloween activities.

With everyone having been or going pumpkin picking we thought we'd share our 'Pumpkin Volcano' experiment with you all so that you can give it a go if you fancy it.

Anything pumpkin related is always fun, whether it's eating them. carving them or turning them into a pumpkin experiment.

We've put together a simple Step-by-Step guide for you to follow.

To make a pumpkin volcano, all you need is;

• A smallish pumpkin
• 2 cups of white vinegar
• 4 Tablespoons of Bicarbonate of Soda (we used the one from the cleaning aisle)
• Food colouring (mix the food colouring into the vinegar. Don't be shy with the colouring - the more colouring you use, the better the colour will be.)
• A couple of squirts of washing up liquid

The erupting volcanoes can be quite messy so you might want to head outside for the activity. We used our trusty Tuff Tray but you could you anything to contain the mess.

Here's a Step-by-Step guide to make your pumpkins erupt.

Step 1

Cut off the top of your pumpkin and get rid of all the guts inside. Carve a face on your pumpkin for the eruption to come out of.

Step 2

Sprinkle the Bicarbonate of Soda inside the pumpkin

Step 3

Add a couple of squirts of washing up liquid into the pumpkin.

Step 4

Pour the vinegar and colouring mixture into the pumpkin.

Step 5

Pop the lid back on to your pumpkin.

Step 6

Stand back and watch what happens next.

The boys loved watching the frothy, bubbly mixture pouring out of the pumpkin's mouth and eyes.

We talked a bit about why the reaction happens. When vinegar and bicarbonate of soda mix together there is a reaction which forms carbon dioxide bubbles. As the bubbles rise to escape the mixture, they make the solution 'erupt' like a volcano. It was a lot easier to actually show them the reaction.

We added washing up liquid to make the solution more bubbly and frothy. It also makes the reaction a little slower which means it lasts a little longer.

We had to do the experiment over and over again. Luckily I stocked up on all the stuff we needed as I suspected that we'd have to do it a few times.