Whether you are teaching kids in the classroom or at home, the weather is a daily occurrence that can be integrated into your lesson plans regardless of the subject! Let's bring on some sunshine and smiles with these weather-themed activities.
1. Fractions in Snowflake
For this activity for kids, bring some scissors and colored paper to class and get creative! Have your students cut out different sized circles, 1 large one, and many smaller ones. Then they can cut their smaller circles in half or in quarters to make fractions! They can use these fraction pieces to glue together a %100 unique snowflake just like them.
Learn more: 123homeschool4me.com
2. Painting with Rain
The key to this cute weather craft is bleeding tissue paper and the magic of a rainy day. Students get a piece of construction paper, colored pencils, and different colored tissue paper. They can draw any design they want (sunsets and skies are always fun!) surrounding/covering it with the bleeding tissue paper. Once they finish, bring all the papers outside and let the rain fall on them. The next day collect them and see the beautiful color mixing that creates stunning works of art!
Learn more: 123homeschool4me.com
3. Cottonball Clouds
Bring a bunch of cotton balls or cotton wool to school and classify the different types of clouds! This can be a whole class activity with a big poster board or done in groups. Help your students learn the names of the kinds of clouds and what they look like in the sky. Let them form the shapes out of cotton balls and glue them to the cloud poster board under the correct name.
Learn more: livinglifeandlearning.com
4. "How's the Weather Today" Song
This video and song is a great start to any lesson and can easily be repeated for extra practice or incorporated into the daily warmup. Play the weather song video, and make a simple dance to go along with the weather. This song is catchy, easy to sing, and a great way to keep weather a part of every class.
Learn more: youtube.com
5. Rainbow Reflections
Rainbows seem like magic, but they are really a reaction of air and water refracting and dispersing light. Get a large glass with water, put a small mirror inside, and create rainbows on your classroom wall!
Learn more: rookieparenting.com
6. Handprints on the Sun
Grab some paper plates, paint, scissors, and glue. Have your students trace and cut out their hands on some white paper. Use these hand cutouts as the rays of the beautiful sun. Paint the hands and paper plate in sunny colors then glue the hands around the plate to make a nice bright sun. You can hang these up around your class to make every day a sunny day!
Learn more: notimeforflashcards.com
7. Wind Pinwheels
This activity is a bit more artistically challenging, so best with older students or an art class. Follow the step-by-step instructions to create pinwheels with your class. Take these pinwheels outside and measure wind speed by seeing how fast the pinwheels spin.
Learn more: onelittleproject.com
8. Pinecone Predictions
Check the weather forecast with pinecones on your windowsill. Make a weather station by the window in class and place some pine cones on the sill. At the start of each class look to see if they are open or closed. If they are open it means today is dry, if they are closed it means it might rain soon!
Learn more: science-sparks.com
9. Lightning Strikes!
Help your students create mini lightning bolts in class with static electricity. Follow the step-by-step instructions here to create your perfect lightning storm and watch your students' eyes light up with each lightning flash!
Learn more: eo.ucar.edu
10. Predicting Thunder
This activity is great for stormy days at school or at home when lightning is visible and you can hear thunder. Grab some paper and a timer and track how many seconds pass in between when you see lightning and hear thunder. This is a great way to explain how light and sound travel at different speeds and actively enjoy a good thunderstorm!
Learn more: weatherwizkids.com
11. Fog it Up!
Fog is a mix of cold air and warm water making tiny drops of water close to the earth. You'll need a large jar, a strainer, some ice cubes, and water. Follow the link for full instructions. As you put the ice cubes over the warm water you will see fog forming on top of the water!
Learn more: discoveryexpresskids.com
12. Sun Sensitive Art
Ask your students to bring in a leaf or flower to class. Get sun-sensitive paper and have your students place their objects on the paper. Put the papers in the sun for 2-4 minutes then put them in water for 1 minute. Let them dry and see sun-bleached outlines on the paper around the natural item!
Learn more: stevespanglerscience.com
13. Measure the Pressure
You can show your students how to be their own weather predictor by making their own barometers. With a coffee can, a latex balloon, and a few small tools you can measure air pressure! Depending on the pressure the balloon with expand and move the straw affecting the reading. Have your students take 5-6 readings a day for a week and report the results.
Learn more: all-science-fair-projects.com
14. DIY Weather Sensory Bottle
Help your students see their body temperature move liquid with this simple thermometer activity. You'll need a plastic bottle, food coloring, a clear drinking straw, rubbing alcohol, and modeling clay. To make it, put your straw into the colored water and secure it with clay. When your students put their hands on the bottom of the bottle the water will move up the straw because of the warmth!
Learn more: pocketofpreschool.com
15. Tornado Time!
This simple science experiment will be sure to light up your students' eyes. Give one mason jar of cold water to each group of students along with a few other ingredients close the lid, let them swirl it around for a few seconds, then set it down to see the mini tornado in action!
Learn more: playdoughtoplato.com
16. Magical Snow
Now your students can play in the snow all year round! All you need is 2 ingredients (frozen baking soda and cold water) but you can let your kids get creative with glitter or food coloring for special snow. Mix them together and have a snowball fight (just kidding!).
Learn more: growingajeweledrose.com
17. Homemade Rain Gauge
A big plastic bottle, a ruler, and some rocks are all you need to measure rainfall. Show your students a way to check how much it rains with this fun activity. Just a few easy steps and your gauge will be ready for the next big storm!
Learn more: news24.com
18. Weather Journal
Use folded construction paper to make a book cover and fill it with notebook pages. Encourage your students to decorate their journals with a weather collage. Mark days in the pages and have the students record the weather each day at the beginning of class. You can also do a larger version for the class and make it a monthly weather chart.
Learn more: tomorrow.io
19. Cloud in a Jar
Help your students create this fun science experiment using shaving cream and food coloring to make rain clouds! The blue food coloring added to the shaving cream will make it look like your little cloud is raining into the blue water in your jar.
Learn more: tomorrow.io
20. Lighting in Your Mouth!
This is a fun one to do with your students and bonus, it involves candy! Pick up some lifesavers and make your classroom dark. Give a piece of candy to each student and have them use a mirror to see how the sugar reacts with the friction of chewing to create sparks of light that look like lightning in their mouths!
Learn more: weatherwizkids.com
21. Wacky Wild Windsocks!
Take the class outside and measure the wind speed with a bag, packing tape, and a few other items. Provide some glitter, ribbons, and other art supplies so your students can decorate their windsocks. Once they are all ready, face them towards the wind and stick them in the ground to measure the wind direction and speed.
Learn more: adabofgluewilldo.com
22. Water Cycle Baggie
For this simple weather, activity bring in some small zip-up bags, blue food coloring, and a black sharpie marker. Have your students draw cloud patterns towards the top of the bag and fill 1/4 of the bag with water and add the blue dye. Use duck tape to hang the bags on the window and watch as the level of water changes as it evaporates and condenses with the weather changes.
Learn more: playdoughtoplato.com
23. Magical Homemade Snowflakes
This awesome weather activity brings snowflakes to life as unique as the ones falling from winter clouds. Grab some pipe cleaners and help your students cut and twist them into star-like shapes. Hang them in a jar following these instructions and as the water cools the borax will help create crystals on the pipe cleaner shaping them into homemade snowflakes!
Learn more: marthastewart.com
24. Reading Time
There are hundreds of books out there teaching kids about different kinds of weather. Here is a list of some books you can find and bring to your class for some read-alongs.
Learn more: 24 Wonderful Weather Books for Kids
25. Cloud Gazing
Take a break in class and ask your students to sit by the window and say what they see in the clouds. They can build a story together or keep a cloud journal about daily weather. This is a short fun weather activity that resets students' attention and lets them connect with nature in the middle of their school day.
Learn more: outdoorclassroomday.com
26. Predict the Weather
Have a daily weather chart in your class and ask your students to make weather predictions for the day/week by taking one of the magnetic cards from the poster or drawing a picture of it in the weather journals. There are many weather printables available or you can create your own!
Learn more: eslkidsgames.com
27. "When it's ______ I like to ______."
Have this sentence prompt on the board regarding different types of weather (snowing, hot, raining, etc.) and ask your students to share what activities they like to do. This can be part of a short daily weather book or expanded into short essays depending on the grade level.
Learn more: teachingspecialthinkers.com
28. Weather Dress Up!
Dress-up days are great activities for preschoolers to learn about the weather and how to dress. Get clothes from the lost and found or donations and have a little wardrobe in the class for students to choose from. Describe a type of weather and see what your students try on!
Learn more: pre-kpages.com
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