Volcanoes

Native Hawaiians knew all about volcanoes. According to them, volcanic eruptions were caused by Pele, the beautiful but tempestuous Goddess of Volcanoes. Pele had frequent moments of anger, which brought about eruptions. She was both honored and feared. She could cause earthquakes by stamping her feet or volcanic eruptions and fiery lava by digging with her Pa'oa, her magic stick. Pele had a long and bitter argument with her older sister, Namakaokahai. The fight ended up forming the Hawaiian Islands. Read more of this story...

Discovery Kids offers you their "Volcano Explorer" where you can go inside a volcano and even make your own volcano science project! Be sure to click the link at the bottom of their page to learn all about the last days of Pompeii.

Picture by Siddharth, Age 9, India

VOLCANO WORLD is a website designed for kids that includes virtual field trips, adventure stories, help for teachers, volcano FAQ, games and fun stuff and, of course, a kids' art gallery (see sample above).

Find out how much you know about volcanoes with this fun activity from National Geographic Kids.

Mount St. Helens VolcanoCams will let you see a volcano live, as in right now, during daylight hours in the State of Washington.

You can visit Mt. Shasta in California or view it "live" on its own webcam HERE or HERE. Mt. Shasta's last major eruption was in 1786 and earned Mt. Shasta the nickname, "Lighthouse of the Pacific." Mt. Shasta is actually a series of four overlapping volcanic cones and as a mountain, it stands alone, not connected to any nearby mountain, rising abruptly to nearly 10,000 feet. Read more about Mt. Shasta HERE.

Mt. Shasta, California


Mt. Etna, Italy

Mount Etna is one of the most active volcanoes in the world and is in an almost constant state of activity.The fertile volcanic soils support extensive agriculture, with vineyards and orchards spread across the lower slopes of the mountain and the broad Plain of Catania to the south. You can view live webcams of Mt. Etna HERE.

This CBS video shows an exciting view of one of Etna's most recent eruptions:

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Do you know the difference between lava and Magma? Do you know how many volcanoes there are in the world? HERE'S A WEBSITE with lots of volcano facts for kids.

And here are some great books on the subject of volcanoes. If you want to find out more about the book, just click on the image. SECURITY CAUTION FOR KIDS: Do NOT click to download or "buy" anything or put your personal information in a form on a website unless you TELL YOUR PARENTS FIRST that's what you want to do.