Exploring Spring Weather with Kids

We have been having fun exploring some elements of springtime weather in preschool - wind, rain, rainbows, clouds and more. It's such an engaging and timely topic and the children have been very attentive and excited about our activities.

I started the week by telling the children that we were going to observe and chart the weather all week. It turned out to be the perfect weather watching week. We had a windy, rainy, sunny, cloudy and partially cloudy day. I could not have planned it better had I been able to manipulate the weather myself.  To chart the weather I made a large chart with the 5 school days of the week. I printed off some images for the different types of weather (I just googled clip art).  Each day, after observing the weather during our morning outdoor playground time, we added a picture on the correct day that the children thought best described the weather.


While learning about rain we did a simple and fun exploration that the children really enjoyed to simulate what happens to a cloud when it rains.

Exploring Rain Clouds

I filled a clear plastic container with water and topped it with shaving cream (our cloud). I provided the children with blue watercolor paint and pipettes. 

The children dropped the blue watercolor onto the shaving cream and observed what occurred. After a few drops the watercolor dropped through the shaving cream cloud, into the water and made visible blue rain.

The children were in awe. It was such an easy, hands-on and visual way to show them how it rains when clouds get overfilled with water.

Making "Magic" Rainbows

Ok, I must admit that we didn't "really" make rainbows but the kids were mesmerized by this color exploration nevertheless and spent a great deal of time on it. It's just a weather spin on the classic "Magic Milk" experiment. Many of you have probably done this many times over.

I put some milk on a clear plastic plate and then let the children add drops of food coloring directly onto the milk. They used red, green, yellow and blue food coloring. I also gave each child a toothpick and a  small cup of dish soap. The children dipped the toothpick into the cup and placed it in the middle of their plate. Then they oohed and ahhed as the "magic" happened.

The colors mixed and swirled, revealing a wonderful "magic" rainbow. It really is a visually neat experience. No two plates had the same reaction, yet they were all awesome. The children were intently watching their plate, glancing at their friends plates and so excited by the whole process.

It's wonderful how a few simple ingredients can ignite so much enthusiasm. If you haven't tried this activity - go for it! It certainly won't disappoint.

If it's not rainbow watching weather, you can always make rainbows with prisms. It's a fun learning activity for kids to try.

For some other rainbow themed activities for kids check out our Rainbow Posts and my Rainbow Pinterest Board. 

Exploring Clouds

While we were talking about clouds we explored cloud dough (8 cups flour to 1 cup baby oil). The children enjoyed the soft sensory feel of the dough but they got bored very quickly.

To make it a bit more inviting I gave them additional baby oil to mix in to the dough as they pleased. My class loves exploring concoctions so I knew this would grab their attention.

They poured and mixed to their hearts content (until I ran out of baby oil).  We ended up with a super soft dough that had a play dough like consistency.  The children, especially the girls, loved this dough. I have no measurements or recipe for reproducing this. It was completely their's and they were free to add baby oil and mix as they pleased. 

Ivory Soap Clouds

My preschoolers love microwaving Ivory Soap so I knew I wanted to reproduce this favorite activity to make "clouds".  It's pretty awesome to watch the soap go from bar form to a puffy white cloud in seconds. For more info on what to do you can visit my previous Ivory Soap Exploration. 

Easy Spring Windsocks

In order to explore wind we made windsocks and (of course) flew them. My class loved this activity. I didn't get any photos of our wind day because I forgot to take them. I will share a quick photo of the Lil Divas doing the same activity. I have to fit them in here somehow don't I? Here's our Windsock post if you want to see how we made them.

Spring Windchimes

These easy to make spring wind chimes combine art/painting with some fine motor/stringing fun for kids.  Here's how the Lil Divas made their spring windchimes. 

To explore how wind moves things we did a fun experiment using straws and various items from around our classroom.  It's an easy wind exploration children can do at home or school. Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera on hand so I didn't get to snap any photos but the Lil Divas did this experiment at home last year with items from around our house -

For more spring themed activities be sure to check out our Springtime Fun Pinterest Board.

Have fun exploring spring weather with your kids!

Bern

Disclosure: Provided links are Amazon affiliate links and are provided for your convenience.

Spring Weather Theme: Clouds

The girls are very interested in clouds these days so to end our Spring Weather Theme we talked a bit about clouds.

Books:

Cloudette


Little Cloud

The Cloud Book

Activity #1: Cloud Mini Books



Using the information we learned from The Coud Book we made our very own simple mini own cloud books.

What You Need:
Cloud Book Template
Shaving Cream
Glue
Cotton Balls
Blue Constuction Paper
Plain White Paper
Silver Glitter Paint (you could just use gray paint or something similar as well)

What To Do:

1. For the Cover we used Puffy Paint to make our clouds! Puffy paint is so much fun! I don't measure but I try to use equal parts shaving cream and glue by eye - it always seems to work well enough anyway!
It came out so cute!

2. Page 1 - Cumulus Clouds

We used puffy cotton balls to make a cloud shape and glued on the wording as we discussed the type of cloud.

3. Page 2 - Cirrus Clouds

We used cotton balls that we pulled apart to make them appear feathery and glued on the wording as we discussed the type of cloud.

Page 3 - Stratus Clouds

Again we used cottong balls for the clouds but we pulled them and tried to make a blanket on the page and then painted them with silver glitter paint so they would look gray & stormy. Finally, we glued on the wording as we discussed the type of cloud.

Here's a peek at all the pages - they must be completely dry before you staple your book together!

Activity #2: Making Words with Letter Tiles (based on the book Little Cloud)

What You Need:
Alphabet Letter Tiles (I'm sre you could also find some sort of printable of these but we have them & they are fun to use!)
Little Cloud Letter Tiles (from Making Learning Fun)

What to Do:
Print out the letter tile cards and supply the correct tiles for younger learners (there are a lot of tiles in the tub and it can get frustrating to search for each letter)

Have fun making the words - be sure to review the letters (recognition) and their sound (phonics practice)

Activity #2: Melissa & Doug See & Spell Puzzles

The girls had so much fun with the letter tiles we took out our Melissa & Doug See & Spell Puzzles to let the fun continue. These puzzles are great!

The box comes with all the letters you will need and 8 double sided wooden boards (16 picttures) with 3 or 4 letter words. This set is great for lowercase letter and common word recognition.

Bern

**I have linked this to Childhood 101 - We Play!, Sharing Time,  Get Crafty,  Read, Explore, Learn , For the Kids Friday, and Preschool Corner **

Spring Weather Theme - Cloud Fun with Spilt Milk

This week has been busy and we haven't devoted much time to our home "school".  We are stll reading about spring weather though and the girls have been very curious about clouds. I checked out a few books from the library on clouds and I wanted to share a fun activity we did on one of my favorite children's books - It Looked Like Spilt Milk.

My girls loved It Looked Like Spilt Milk and as a teacher I have loved this book for years. It is a wonderful children's book with easy repetitive text that gets the kids chanting along. It helps them work on their prediction skills as they try to decipher what comes next and of course it is a wonderful tool for engaging their imagination!

Activity: Spilt Milk Art

The first time I did this activity was during my first year of teaching with 3 year olds. That was over 13 years ago and it never ceases to amaze me how such a simple activity can produce such different results every time!

What You Need:

Blue Construction Paper
White Paint
Paintbrushes or Sponges (optional - I have also done this via fingerpainting)

What To Do:
1. Fold the blue contruction paper in half and have the child(ren) use the white paint to blot a design on one half of the paper. This is also a good time to talk about symmetry!

2. Fold paper in half and press down

3. Open to reveal your "spilt milk" symmetrical design and have fun using your imagination to "see" what it is!


My Lil Divas each saw different things in these pictures.

In the 1st they saw - a butterfly/a heart           
The 2nd was - an angel/bunch of grapes

The 3rd was a video game controller/sand castle           
the 4th was a bird/bow

What do you see?

Bern

**I have linked this to Childhood 101 - We Play!, Sharing Time,  Get Crafty,  Read, Explore, Learn , For the Kids Friday, and Preschool Corner **