Learning About the Weather

Weather week ended up lasting a lot longer than my other weeks. Partially because I did have a lot of activities for us to do but, mostly because I had a lot of other things going on in my personal life. However, I am finally posting about all of the activities we had including fun science experiments, creative art projects and a lot of fun!

Focus One: Meteorologists and Their Tools
Weather week started out with dramatic play which was a pretend news room! The kids both enjoyed it and it really set the stage for the rest of the weeks activities. The first day focused on Meteorologists and the tools they use to measure weather. So, we discussed what a meteorologist does and watched a few news casts of the weather. Then we played with the news room and pretended to tell the weather for the day. We also filled out the first day of a daily weather book, did a little weather themed addition and subtraction coloring sheet and made a rain gauge using an empty liter bottle and a sharpie. We finished the day with a little weather reader, a fun snack, and food art using froot loops and marshmallows to create a weather scene. 

Arthur took a nap for a lot of the less baby friendly fun but he did enjoy stacking blocks while we did some of the activities.

Focus Two: Storms
The next lessons focused on storms. As always, we started with some math and reading practice. Then we got to have fun with a cool science demonstration about how rain is formed.

DIY Cloud in a Jar
Materials:
- clear jar
- shaving cream
- water
- blue food coloring

Directions:
1. Fill jar 1/3 of the way full with water
2. Top the water with shaving cream
3. In a small bowl mix water and food coloring together
4. Using a medicine dropper allow the child to drop the blue water into the shaving cream cloud. When the "cloud" becomes full the "rain" will seep out of the bottom into the water beneath.

After our experiment we read "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs" and then had a little sensory fun by creating our own spaghetti covered town. Simply boil some spaghetti noodles, create a city scape using whatever toys you have (I used some train parts, blocks and plastic figurines), and then let them have fun dumping noodles onto the town! We also watched the "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs" movie while Arthur napped.

For a snack I made a "Cup of Clouds" using blue jello and whipped cream. It was a big hit and very easy. I made the jello ahead of time and then simply placed scoops of jello in between squirts of whipped cream in a clear cup. 

Focus Three: The Water Cycle
Our third focus was all about the water cycle. To start we made a water cycle in a bag by drawing a sun and cloud on a baggie filled with a little bit of blue water. We then taped the baggie to a window that gets a lot of sun and waited. After about a day you could see the condensation forming at the top of the bag creating water droplets or "rain".

Then we did a little weather themed math but, this worksheet was more difficult than previous ones so we made Lilly some "helping hands". It was very simple to create and it really helped her. After the math and adding to our daily weather book we made a "cloud" in the microwave using a bar of ivory soap. All you do is put the bar (minus the wrapper) in the microwave on a sheet of wax paper or a plate and turn it on for a few seconds. As the bar heats up it begins to expand and looks just like a fluffy, white cloud! You can also re-heat the same bar to see it grow more. After creating the "cloud" Lilly played with it for a minute for a bit of sensory fun.

That evening, Arthur had fun in a sky themed bath which was just blue food coloring water and shaving cream clouds. He loves baths and the fun theme kept him occupied for quite a while.

Theme Four: Clouds, Wind and Rainbows
For the clouds and rainbows theme we began with learning about the different types of clouds and I made a cloud viewfinder to determine what type of clouds were outside that day. Then we did a cloud scavenger hunt and drew a picture of one of the clouds we saw. 

Then we talked about the wind and how clouds move by doing an experiment. Using a great free worksheet we hypothesized about different objects and weather the wind could blow them. Then we conducted the experiment. I can proudly say that Lilly hypothesized correctly on every item! It was a fun and quick little project that we both enjoyed. 

After that we focused on rainbows starting with making a rainbow with fruit loops and learning about the color order with the clever pneumonic, ROY G. BIV. Then it was time for some outside play with a rainbow sensory bin. To create this bin I simply mixed baking soda with food coloring one color at a time and added them to the bin in the correct order to form a rainbow. This gave them the opportunity to not only play with mixing the colors together but also to make some fizzy reactions with vinegar after the color part wasn't fun anymore. 

We finished the theme by making rainbow milk art using dish soap, milk and food coloring. It was a good way to demonstrate color mixing.

Theme Five: The Seasons & Telling Time
We began by discussing what the seasons are and which ones we like best and what kind's of clothing people should wear in each season. Then we decorated trees to demonstrate their appearance in each season using do-a-dot markers. I don't know why Lilly finds these so amazing but she gets so excited when the do-a-dot's come out. 

Then we spent quite a bit of time discussing how to tell time. The goal was more to introduce the concept than to actually teach her how to tell time and I think that I was successful. She understands that the little hand is for the first number(s) and the big hand is for the second number(s) and could tell you the basic times. When we started looking at bigger numbers she started to get a glazed over look so we stopped. We finished the day with a high frequency word book using the words the, is, on & and. It was good because it required them to cut and paste in between reading so it made the reading a little more fun.

That's it for Weather Week at Mommy Camp! I hope you found something inspirational! Our next and final theme for the summer is Dinosaurs!!! I'm so excited!