35 Best Weather Activities for Preschoolers & Kindergarteners
December 5, 2024
If you鈥檙e looking to teach younger students about the weather, check out these 35 different fun activities. These all work perfectly as preschool weather activities or with kindergarten/elementary school students. Let’s dive in and look at each of the Weather Activities for Preschoolers & Kindergarten Students.
If you need more inspiration, check out our other lists:听
Interested in Studying Meteorology in College? Check out the 35 Best Colleges for Meteorology.
Best Weather Activities for Preschoolers & Kindergarten Students
1) Daily Weather Check-In Station
Create a cute bulletin board in the classroom where you can check on the weather every day. Start by giving your students the daily forecast, and include big, fun stickers of the sun, rain clouds, snow clouds, wind, etc. After a bit of time, you can trade the responsibility of delivering the forecast over to assigned students.听
2) Daily Temperature Gauge
Create a large, colorful thermometer and change it at different points throughout the day as the temperature changes. You can put up a thermometer in both Fahrenheit and Celsius in order to demonstrate the difference to students.听
Best Weather Activities for Preschoolers, Kindergarten, and Elementary (Continued)
3) Wind sock observation station
Attach a wind sock to a flag pole outside and have students observe the way the wind is blowing on blustery days.听
4) Outdoor rain gauge
Build a rain gauge out of a plastic graduated flask with inch marks. Place it in a spot in a garden outside of the school. After a rainstorm, check on the gauge to see how many inches have fallen.听
5) Outdoor snow gauge
If you鈥檙e lucky enough to live somewhere where there are four seasons, build a small outdoor plot with a ruler to gauge snowfall during the winter months. You can keep a classroom log to see how much snow falls over the course of the season鈥攁nd see how your tabulations stack up with the experts.听
Best Weather Activities for Preschoolers, Kindergarten (Continued)
6) How to dress for the weather
Laminate some doll-sized figures printed on poster board. Affix sticky velcro to the body and head. Laminate accessories like hats, scarves, coats, pants, shorts, swimsuits, sunglasses, etc. When the weather changes, have students dress the character in new clothes that are perfect for the season.听
7) Rain in a jar
Get a wide-mouth bell jar and place a sponge on the opening. Drop water on the sponge bit by bit until raindrops form. Watch how they fall!听
Best Weather Activities for Preschoolers, Kindergarten, and Elementary (Continued)
8) Condensation station
Teach kids how the water cycle works by setting up this condensation station. Pour boiling salt water into the bottom of a large glass bowl. Place a smaller, taller bowl into the boiling water. The sides should be above the height of the water, so that it can catch the rain that falls. Cover the bowl in plastic wrap and place a large piece of ice on top of the plastic wrap.听
As the air inside cools, the hot water will condense on the plastic and then 鈥渞ain鈥� down into the smaller bowl.听
When the process is complete, students can actually taste the fact that the rain water isn鈥檛 salty anyway. The water cycle naturally desalinates the water in our world!听
9) Cloud in a jar
You need the following things:听
-A large, wide-mouth jar
-Hot water
-A lid听
-Ice听
-Hairspray听
Pour the hot water in the bottom of the jar and swirl the water around to warm the sides of the jar. Put the lid on upside down (don鈥檛 screw it on) and put the ice on top of the lid for about 30 seconds. Take the lid off and spray a little bit of hairspray into the jar. Put the lid with the ice back onto the jar and watch the cloud form!听
Best Weather Activities for Preschoolers, Kindergarten, and Elementary (Continued)
10) DIY Thermometer for Kids
This simple thermometer will tell you when it gets hotter or colder in the room. With just a few ingredients, you can make this fun, demonstrative thermometer.听
You will need:听
-A large glass bottle, like an empty juice bottle, with a cap听
-Molding clay听
-A straw
-Rubbing/isopropyl alcohol听
-Water
-Food coloring听
-A liquid measuring cup or graduated flask听
-Cooking oil听
Fill the bottle with water until completely full. Dump the water into the measuring cup or flask and then dump out half. Replace that half with rubbing alcohol. Add a few drops of food coloring and mix.听
Pour the mixture back into the glass bottle and ensure that the bottle is full to the brim. Punch a hole in the center of the lid of the bottle. Screw the lid back on the bottle and insert the straw. Pack the molding clay around the straw to prevent water leakage from the bottle and to prevent air from getting in. Drop some more water and food coloring into the top of the straw until about two inches of water extends over the top of the cap. Put a drop or two of cooking oil into the straw to keep the water in the straw from evaporating.听
Now, when the temperature changes in the room, the water temperature will change, and you鈥檒l see the water rise and lower in the straw. You can mark the straw with the starting temperature location, hot, and cold to keep your students aware of when the temperature is changing.听
11) Paint with all the colors of the wind
Laminate some sheets of paper and add water color paints with some water to the laminated pages. Give students straws to blow the paint around to see how 鈥渨ind鈥� can move things around the world.听
Best Weather Activities for Preschool, Kindergarten, and Elementary (Continued)
12) Paint with the rain
You can do the same kind of painting exercise but with rain. Paint squares of different, vibrant watercolors and then staple them to the top on another blank sheet of paper. Have students drop water down each colored square to see how the water runs the color down the page. Which one goes the farthest? How much 鈥渞ain鈥� is necessary to make the colors run?听
13) Wind Testing Station
Attach strips of different densities of fabric to some popsicle sticks or wooden rods. Have students hold the sticks in front of a blowing fan to see how differently the fabrics respond to the wind.听
Best Weather Activities for Preschoolers, Kindergarten, and Elementary (Continued)
14) Plastic bag kites
Bring in a collection of plastic grocery bags and have students tie string to the handles. Take the 鈥渒ites鈥� outside and run around with them to see how the kites respond to the movement in the air.听
15) Homemade Weather Vane
Take a cardboard food container (like a soup takeaway container), and color the top of the lid with a compass rose. Use a small wooden stick and put a flag on the top of it. Line the compass rose directions up with the real directions in the world and place the weather vane outside on a windy day. Have students observe the direction the wind is blowing.听
Best Weather Activities for Preschool, Kindergarten, and Elementary (Continued)
16) Homemade sundial
Build a homemade sundial with one cardboard disc and a cardboard fin to create a shadow. You鈥檒l have to do some calibration to line the shadow up in a specific spot so that you can mark the sundial with the hours of the day, but with a little preparation, you can show your students how the sun helps us tell time.听
17) Playdough Weather Mats
Set out different mats with different weather descriptions: sunny, rainy, windy, snowy, icy, thunderstorm, tornado, etc.听
Then give kids a bunch of different colorful Playdough, and let them use the Playdough to design those different weatherscapes.听
Best Weather Activities for Preschoolers, Kindergarten, and Elementary (Continued)
18) Make a pinwheel
Use colorful paper to invite students to build a pinwheel.听
You鈥檒l need:听
-Colorful paper cut into long parallelograms听
-Small metal pins used for crafting
-Wooden sticks听
Have students fold over the colorful paper, end to end, to create a loop for the pinwheel. Secure each loop on the small metal pin, one by one. Then stick the pin into the metal stick. Let the pinwheel blow and show students how the wind makes things move.听
19) Weather calendar
Keep a monthly calendar documenting the weather every day as a class.听
Best Weather Activities for Preschool, Kindergarten, and Elementary (Continued)
20) Tornado in a bottle
Take the labels off of two empty, two-liter plastic soda bottles. Fill one bottle most of the way with water and food coloring. Attach the two bottles to one another with duct tape or with .听
Show students how the water creates a vortex and let them create their own vortices!听
21) Stormy Weather Activity
Let students mix colors together to create gray rain clouds that they paint onto a piece of paper. Let them experiment with different colors to see what colors they need to combine in order to create a stormy gray cloud. Then, have them glue on strips of yellow lightning bolts and blue raindrops to complete their stormy scene.听
Best Weather Activities for Preschoolers, Kindergarten, and Elementary (Continued)
22) Dry Ice Sublimation
Explain the complicated idea of sublimation鈥攚hen a solid becomes a gas without first becoming a liquid鈥攂y using dry ice. The teacher needs to be in charge of this demonstration so that students don鈥檛 hurt themselves with the very low temperature of the dry ice. But place a chunk of dry ice into an old film canister or a clear small plastic container with a lid that can pop off. The clear container works well if you want to watch the process.听
Watch and wait as the dry ice sublimates and the gas builds up in the container. Once the gas builds up enough pressure into the container, the lid will pop off. This can show students how pressure builds up in the atmosphere and how sublimation works.听
23) Singing Spoons with Dry Ice
Demonstrate sublimation in another way by taking a simple metal spoon and placing it against a piece of dry ice. The sublimation and the quick release of carbon dioxide gas will vibrate against the metal spoon and the vibration will cause the spoon to make a sound. This is another way to 鈥渧isualize鈥� gas.听
Best Weather Activities for Preschool, Kindergarten, and Elementary (Continued)
24) Cloud identification tool
Create a cloud identifying tool by organizing different photos of clouds around the edge of a document and printing it onto cardstock. Or, to make this more hands-on, print on various images of the clouds and have students identify them, write the name under the clouds, and glue them around the border of a piece of cardstock that will hold up to the weight of the other photos.听
Then, have students cut out the center of the larger piece of cardstock.听
Take the cloud identifier outside and have students look up at the sky to identify the clouds on different days.听
25) Eclipse glasses
If you鈥檙e lucky to have an eclipse that happens during your school year, have your students make a pinhole eclipse box to watch the eclipse safely. This will show you how to make a quick, easy eclipse watching device.听
26) Eclipse Totality Craft
Have students learn the different phases of an eclipse by . Fold a long, thin strip of cardstock paper into six sections.听
At the top, write: Solar Eclipse
Second section: First contact
Third section: Second contact
Fourth section: Totality
Fifth section: Third contact
Sixth section: Fourth contact听
Use small circles of the same size of yellow and black construction paper and glue them to each section to show the different phases of the eclipse.听听
Best Weather Activities for Preschool, Kindergarten, and Elementary (Continued)
27) Paint in the rain
Have students paint different colored squares using water colors on plain, heavier paper.听
Leave the sheets out in the rain during a light rainstorm on the top of some plastic containers. When the rain runs over the sheets, you鈥檒l see new patterns as the watercolors run.听
28) Cotton ball cloud crafts
Use cotton balls and have students rip them apart and reshape them and glue them to a blue piece of paper to recreate the different shapes of clouds. Have them write down the names of clouds underneath the cotton balls.听
29) Paper plate sun
Using different bright colored orange and yellow construction paper, have students trace their hands and cut out the handprints. About a dozen of them should do. Glue them around the edges of a white paper plate. Then, have them paint the paper plate yellow or orange or a mix of the two colors. When the paint dries, have them draw a smiley face on the sun. A fun reminder of the colors of the sun!听
Best Weather Activities for Preschool, Kindergarten, and Elementary (Continued)
30) Do you want to build a snowman?
If you鈥檙e lucky enough to get enough snow, have students bring their gloves and heavy coats and build a snowman out in the fields behind the school!听
31) Paper snowflakes
This is a classic activity, but it鈥檚 always fun. Fold up pieces of white paper and have students cut shapes into the folded sides and free edges of the paper to create their own snowflakes. Decorate the classroom with the unique winter creations!听
Best Weather Activities for Preschool, Kindergarten, and Elementary (Continued)
32) Bubblewrap snowman
Have students create a snowman body with a large white sheet of paper. Using sheets of bubblewrap, paint the bubble wrap with light blue paint. Then, stamp the snowman with the painted bubblewrap in order to create a fun, textured feeling to the snowman. When the paint dries, use black permanent markers to draw eyes on the snowman. Use a piece of orange construction paper to give him a carrot nose. It鈥檚 a fun way to think about building a snowman, even if the weather doesn鈥檛 permit.听
33) Raindrop sun catcher
lets students develop their fine motor skills while creating a sun catcher that can help them observe the way the sun shines.听
34) Rain themed sensory table
Use a large plastic basin that you fill with a bit of water. Then add pasta strainers, animals, and little plastic people. The kids can simulate the falling of rain with the pasta strainers and develop fun ways to keep the plastic people and animals from getting wet.听
Best Weather Activities for Preschool, Kindergarten, and Elementary (Continued)
35) Counting rain sensory bin
Fill a bin with cotton ball 鈥渃louds.鈥� Add in cut up, bent pieces of sparkly gold pipe cleaner to create lightning bolts. Add in small blue glass beads to represent rain. Have students draw a card with different numbers written on them and either raindrops or lightning bolts. Have them count out the number of raindrops or lightning bolts (depending on the card). This fun activity lets students practice counting while also thinking about identifying the different elements of a rainstorm.听
Best Weather Activities for Preschoolers & Kindergarten – Additional Resources
