Exploring Weather With Young Children

Happy Monday! Im sharing all the activities the boys and I have done to explore the theme of weather. I know it’s only February but I’m so ready for all things sunny warm and bright! If you like fun play prompts and themes I’d like to invite you to join my private Facebook group where parents who have a passion for early childhood education engage in activities every month sharing ideas and inspiration. It’s so fun and 100% free, click here to join!

Sun Shaped Cheese And Crackers:

I have a young toddler and can’t present learning concepts in a boring way. I’m a huge fan of using food to learn because 1) food is very cost effective and 2) what kid doesn’t love a good snack?! Isaiah loves munching on cheese and crackers and I found on Pinterest a fun snack idea to shape the cheese like sun rays and have the cracker be the center of the sun. I cut a few triangles out of cheese and was happy to point out the sun shape I had made on the plate to my two year old. While he ate we talked about the color of the sun and even sang “Oh Mr. Sun” together. I felt this was a great way for him to get familiar with the concept in a simple way. He learned the sun is in the sky and yellow in color! Today while playing outside he looked up at the sky and said “sun!” I was thrilled he remembered our mini lesson!

Whipped Cream Cloud Sensory Play:

Grab a can of whip cream and make fluffy clouds. Toddlers love hands on activities and this sensory activity is sure to be a hit! Again, you can explain how clouds are white and fluffy and even show pictures of what real clouds look like. If you’re not a fan of the sugar in whipped cream try plain yogurt for your child to play in. I had Isaiah do this activity once in a baking sheet and another time on plastic wrap. Both made clean up so easy!

Wind Experiment (Bubbles In Wind): Today we took learning outside and observed the wind! I showed Isaiah grass blowing in the breeze. I said: “The wind is making the grass move.” and blew on the grass to show him the effects of air when it encounters an object with a lesser mass than we are. Not sure if he understands completely but again, exposure is EVERYTHING at this age. He did however enjoy the bubble play we had and loved seeing the bubbles get blown away by the wind in the air!

Rainbow Stacker:

We already own this Fisher Price Rainbow Stacker from when Isaiah was a baby. He is still practicing getting all the rings in the correct order so I felt this would be a great opportunity for him to work on it more and throw in some color practice. He knows blue confidently but needs help on the other colors. I also showed him some rainbow photos while playing and he really enjoyed looking at all of the different colors it had. This is a great cognitive activity and kept him busy for a while- my five month old also likes playing with the rings so this was a lot of fun for the both of them.

Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs Movie Night! I’ll be doing a dedicated blog post for this activity and will be giving you access to the printables I made for this event! For dinner we had spaghetti, made meatless meatballs to go with it (we eat vegetarian/ vegan meals) and watched the movie “Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs“ as a family. So many talking points and with movies and children I believe it is so helpful when you talk and point out the things they are seeing! This was a fun imaginative twist to learning about weather with the boys! Noah’s Ark Bible Lesson: Of course I also have to include a Bible lesson and the first one that came to mind was Noah’s ark and the great storm that came upon the earth that caused it to flood. There’s also a rainbow mentioned in the story and for young children picking out a few points to emphasize will help learning feel less overwhelming. I’ll be focusing on the rain and the rainbow in this story to stay in line with the weather theme we have.