Spring and Summer Activities for Children: Teach Your Child About Weather

Summer vacation is just around the corner but that doesn't mean learning has to go on vacation. Spring brings storms that can be scary but these weather changes also offer a great chance to teach kids about weather and how meteorologists predict weather. Here are some tips for getting your child involved in learning meteorology. This educational activity is perfect for kids of all ages, is inexpensive, and is fun.

First, I recommend visiting the National Weather Service website. There you can view radar and satellite images. The NWS also has an entire section devoted to classroom activities and games for children (and adults) such as crossword puzzles. In addition to games and interesting weather facts, you'll find a helpful weather-term glossary. I've included some links to National Weather Service pages at the end of this article.

The following are a few weather-related activities for your child:

Encourage your child to try predicting weather three days in advance, based on what they are learning. Give them a small prize if the prediction is accurate. If the prediction is not accurate, remind the child that often meteorologists get it wrong too.

Kids can learn about atmospheric pressure and relative humidity and what these can indicate about current weather conditions and changes in weather.

If you child likes crafts, help her create a weather map using felt (or other materials as you choose). Felt maps are easy to make. Get a large piece of cardboard and glue a piece of felt over it. Add removable white felt clouds and a yellow sun and any other weather-related symbols your child would like.

Encourage your child to draw the different kinds of clouds and attribute the correct names.

You can talk to your kids about rain, sleet, hail, snow, and what causes each respectively.

You can also buy a rain gauge and let your child be in charge of it. You and your child can compare rainfall in your yard with other areas.

Some questions you can explore with your child:

What causes thunderstorms?

Does a tornado only occur during thunderstorms?

What causes a tornado?

What is the difference between a funnel cloud and a tornado? (Hint: One becomes the other when it touches the ground)

What are differences between cloud to cloud lightning and other kinds of lightning?

What causes thunder?

Can lightning strike the same spot twice? ( The answer is yes)

What kind of weather change may occur if the barometric pressure falls?

Most children are naturally curious about the weather. Teaching kids about weather is easy and will keep their brain active during the summer.

http://www.weather.gov/radar_tab.php