Weather is an interesting topic for children because they can see it and relate to it! Daily weather, kinds of weather, and their favorite weather are some good topics to get you started. Be sure to incorporate hands-on weather activities, sensory activities, motor skills, and books about the weather into your lesson planning. When planning your weather-themed unit, check out the following 30 ideas in this fun compilation of weather-themed activities!
1. Raindrop Art
Raindrop art can be tons of fun for little ones! Let them draw their own picture and then add colored water as rain. Little ones can use a dropper to sprinkle little droplets over their pictures and as it dries, it creates raindrop art.
Learn more: Pre K Printable Fun
2. Cloud in a Jar
This simple science experiment is a fun way to teach students more about how clouds form. This will be a great addition to a preschool weather theme and would follow up with a nonfiction book about the weather to demonstrate new learning in person.
Learn more: Gift of Curiosity
3. Shaving Cream Clouds
Shaving cream clouds can be a lot of fun for little ones to create and watch. Adding droplets of food coloring and watching the art happen before their little eyes is a great way to let little ones be involved and learn more about clouds.
Learn more: One Little Project
4. Rain Stick Craft
Sensory play is super important for preschool-age students. This do-it-yourself rain stick is a hands-on activity that will be fun to make and fun to use! Students can decorate their rain sticks and use them to create fun music inside the classroom.
Learn more: Planning Playtime
5. Roll and Cover Rain
Roll and cover is a fun game to practice number recognition. Students can roll the dice and then cover the numbers. They could also practice counting to that number or practice writing the number as well.
Learn more: Planning Playtime
6. Snowman Word Families
Snowman word families are great for beginning readers. These would be great for station or center work or to be used as independent work. Students can use pictures to help them decode the words in each word family.
Learn more: 123 Homeschool 4 Me
7. Snowman CVC Word Builders
Students love to build things! These CVC snowmen are great literacy practice for building your own words. Students will love using these in centers or as independent work!
Learn more: 123 Homeschool 4 Me
8. Tornado Experiment
Tornado weather is interesting and good for students to learn more about. This tornado experiment is a good way for students to see what tornados look like and can be paired with nonfiction books to teach more about the science behind this weather phenomenon.
Learn more: Natural Beach Living
9. Snow Dough Sensory Bin
Snow sensory bins make for hours of fun! Use a few simple ingredients to create a fake snow mixture for students to explore with arctic animals. Students will have fun exploring the texture and learning more about snowy and icy weather.
Learn more: Natural Beach Living
10. Stormy Art Project
White paper and gray paint can make for some stormy artwork! Let students’ creative juices flow as they create their own stormy weather and design it to represent a thunderstorm.
Learn more: Buggy and Buddy
11. Weather Chart
Daily weather charts are a great way for students to learn more about the weather. Let students track the temperatures and the type of weather each day. This would be a great addition to a dramatic play center.
Learn more: A Little Pinch of Perfect
12. Umbrella Craft
Beautifully swirled paint artwork creates this lovely umbrella craft. It can be done with finger painting or with marble rolling. Students can further practice fine motor skills by cutting out their own raindrops.
Learn more: Teaching Mama
13. Rainy Clouds Art
This rain cloud craft is a great to simulate rain from the clouds. Using drops of water with blue food coloring, students can create the rain and then add cotton balls to serve as the clouds up top. This fun weather art activity is sure to be a hit!
Learn more: Gift of Curiosity
14. Raindrop Alphabet Sort
Alphabet sorts are good practice for young learners, as they are still building their literacy foundations. Sorting lowercase and uppercase letters is great for letter and sound recognition. Laminate these for repeated use in centers.
Learn more: From ABCs to ACTs
15. Counting Cloud Fun
Math and fine motor practice, this activity is great for centers or independent seat work! Let little ones count out the paper clips and link them onto the clouds. Laminate and hole punch for repeated use in centers.
Learn more: Kindergarten Rocks
16. Raindrop Number Tracing
Great math practice, this rain cloud number tracing activity is also good motor skills practice. Print and laminate these cards for repeated use, as students use dry erase markers to practice the tracing.
Learn more: Frogs and Fairies
17. Sun Visors
Another fun art idea is a homemade sun visor. Simply use a paper plate and ribbon to craft the sun visor. Students will enjoy decorating it with colorful stickers and washable markers.
Learn more: Preschool Plan It
18. Rainy Day Booklet
This simple emergent reader is great for practicing sight words and numbers. It is good for counting practicing and handwriting as well. Students can add the correct number of raindrops to each page to match the number.
Learn more: Kindergarten Rocks
19. Weather Sensory Counting Bin
Weather sensory bins are sure to be one of your favorite weather activities. This particular weather sensory bin allows the opportunity for extra math practice by counting with the number cards.
Learn more: Fantastic Fun and Learning
20. Raindrop Beginning Sound Match Up
Add this beginning sounds rain cloud practice to your collection of weather activities. This is good practice for vocabulary and beginning sound practice. Let students match the pictures to the letter on the cloud for the correct beginning sounds.
Learn more: Frogs and Fairies
21. Weather Sensory Bottles
Much like a sensory bin, these sensory bottles are great for many reasons! These can be used in a calm-down spot or to explore different types of weather. The small bottles are good for small hands, and students can even help make these.
Learn more: 123 Homeschool 4 Me
22. Little Cloud Activity
Little Cloud is a children’s classic picture book by the famous Eric Carle. After reading the book, let students craft their own clouds. Use blue paper or let them use blue paint on white paper before adding their cotton ball cloud creations.
Learn more: I Can Teach My Child
23. Fine Motor Sun Craft
Adorable and fun, this sun art activity is great practice for motor muscles. A rainy day would be the perfect time for art ideas, like this bright sunshine. Little hands will enjoy this craft, all while getting extra motor skill practice!
Learn more: Buggy and Buddy
24. Raindrop Letter Match Up
This activity is great practice for individual letters and sounds. Print the raindrop letter cards and match those to the alphabet mat. Literacy activities for preschoolers are always great practice for building a solid foundation for reading!
Learn more: 123 Homeschool 4 Me
25. Water Cycle in a Bag
Learning about the water cycle can be a lot of information for little learners. Use the weather song and pictures for children to see the process. Fill the plastic bag with colored water and use a black sharpie marker to draw the process so students can watch the process.
Learn more: Playdough to Plato
26. Dramatic Play Meteorologist
One of the most fun and easiest preschool weather activities is dramatic play. This play center is a great way for students to act as meteorologists and use verbal skills to talk about the weather and give a pretend weather forecast.
Learn more: Little Illuminations
27. Cloud Counting Mats
Cloud counting mats are perfect for using to practice math skills. Let students roll a number and count the dots to verify the number. Then have them count out the crystals on the cloud mat. For an added bonus, you could laminate the clouds and have students write the numbers with dry-erase markers.
Learn more: Little Illimunations
28. Newspaper Kites
Creating kites out of recycled newspapers is a great way for students to learn more about windy weather. It is important for students to learn about many kinds of weather. Students will have fun crafting their kites and taking them out for a test flight!
Learn more: Living Well Spending Less
29. What to Wear Weather Match Up
Teaching kids about the weather and how to dress appropriately for it is an important life skill! Students can look at the weather cards and the clothing options in the pictures to decide which weather matches which outfit.
Learn more: Pre K Printable Fun
30. Raindrop Suncatcher
Let little ones use blue tissue paper on the contact paper sticky side in the shape of a raindrop. Students can use different shades of blue and white to fill in the raindrop. Enjoy this weather craft by hanging it in the window for all to see!
Learn more: Pre K Printable Fun