I think all children love weather. It is fascinating (until you get old and used to it), it changes every day, it affects what you wear and the activities that you can do. The girls had a blast during their Weather Theme Week, and I had tons of fun planning it. At the time we did these activities, Lena was almost 4.5 and Maggie was 2.5.
If you regularly do preschool using weekly themes, be sure to check out Over 30 COMPLETE Weekly Preschool Theme Units that we've completed as well as my entire list of 52 Weekly Preschool Themes. You may also want to check out of Daily Home Preschool Schedule and this handy FREE Printable Preschool Planning Page.
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Rainy Day Sensory Bin
We finally got on the water bead bandwagon, and really enjoyed playing with them in this Rainy Day Sensory Bin. It was tons of fun, and you can find out how to make your own!
Weather Lunch
You can make a simple weather lunch for your kids! This is an English muffin, topped with circle of cheese and cheesy sun rays. The eyes and smile are made from raisins. There is a side of snow (popcorn) with rain clouds for dessert (whipped cream & blueberries).
Rain Gauges
These rain gauges are a beautiful project for your little ones to do. We haven't had any rain since we made them, but the girls have been asking every day if its time to set them outside. They loved picking out fabric from our stash to use, and we were so pleased with how pretty they turned out. We're waiting on a nice rainy day to get some good pictures for a full tutorial.
Marble Raindrop Counting
Maggie asked for some special "school time" by herself one day, so I made up a quick weather-related math activity to do with her. I pulled out our bluish flat marbles and told her that they were raindrops.
Then we grabbed big sister's umbrella and I asked her to 'rain' 7 raindrops on me. She counted them one-by-one as they plopped on the umbrella. Then we switched, and I asked her count the plop sounds as I rained the marbles onto the umbrella as she held it. She thought it was great! Of course, Lena had to join in the fun later in the day.
Weather Science
I picked up this Wacky Weird Weather Science Kit several months ago when I found it on clearance at a local craft store. It is rated for ages 8 and up, but there were a couple of activities that I though were suitable for us to do (as always, you know your children best and should decide what you think they're capable of).
We made a tornado with one of these bottle connecter-vortexy things. Lena swirled it and around and around around and made about 1,000 tornadoes.
And the kit also contained materials to make a little volcano (not exactly weather related, but close enough). This picture makes it look like a chocolate volcano (haha) but it was actually made of plastic. The science kit still has plenty of activities left to do as the girls get older.
Picture Books
There is no shortage of picture books about weather! Here is a round-up of the ones we read this week. There are choices for all types of weather!
Raindrop Paintings
This little craft project uses an eye-dropper and liquid watercolor to make rain drops. It was fantastic fine motor practice! Read all about it!
Sunny Sewing
Lena was very interested in sewing over the last couple of weeks as I worked on her Halloween costume. I told her I would plan a project for her, and so she made this sunny stuffie. Learn how to make your own!
Weather Words
At the beginning of the week, I made a set of 'weather word' cards for Lena to practice reading throughout the week. I just cut rectangles of paper, used a magic marker to write words like sun, rain, and snow and then laminated them to make them more sturdy. We looked at them every now and then and I used them to help her work on some of the blends and phonics rules that she's learning now. They also made their way into our Rainy Day Sensory Bin to sneak in a little bit of extra learning.
Focus Letters
I don't have any kind of formal letter-learning plan for Maggie. She sort of picks them up as we go along, and I try to point them out to her when it seems like a natural extension of what we're doing. I have started trying to focus on a handful of letters each week with her to really help them stick. This week she learned 'W for weather', 'R for rain' and 'S for sun'. All it means is that when she does an ABC puzzle, I give extra attention to particular letters each week. Or I'll throw them into the sensory bin like we did this week. Nothing fancy!
Weather Music
I found this CD, Dance to the Weather, from our local library, and let me tell you, it is great! It has catchy little songs about all types of weather, and we played them this week while we did our weather activities. It is also very educational, and sprinkles in little tidbits of information throughout the songs!
Temperature Chart
At the beginning of the week, I gave Lena and Maggie each one of these temperature charts that I made. It is on a Fahrenheit scale, and was made with a range that I knew we'd be expecting at this time of year. We checked and recorded the temperature 3 times each day. This was great practice for Lena for reading higher numbers. I also showed them different ways that they could check the temperature. We looked at our thermometer outside, checked on the Internet, and caught the TV weather forecast. You can get a printable of our chart here on Scribd.
Find tons more ideas for your own weather week on the What Can We Do With Paper And Glue weather themed Pinterest board. Or, follow What Can We Do With Paper And Glue on Pinterest to see LOADS of activities for common preschool themes.
You May Also Be Interested In
Great Chapter Books For Preschoolers
Invitation To Create: Robot Lab
12 Hands-On Weather Activities For Kids from Kids Activities Blog
Weather "I-Spy" Counting Activity from Life Over C's
Weather Sensory Activity from Munchkins And Moms
From Other Great Bloggers
DIY Preschool Weather Board from Teaching Mama12 Hands-On Weather Activities For Kids from Kids Activities Blog
Weather "I-Spy" Counting Activity from Life Over C's
Weather Sensory Activity from Munchkins And Moms
