After having fun with our Earth Day Lesson Plan, my kids began asking loads of questions about weather. I got them this STEM Weather Station Kit and decided to put together this Weather Lesson Plan to take their exploration of this topic to the next level. We will do tons of weather STEM experiments like making a tornado in a bottle, creating your own rainbow, and a DIY lightning in a bottle project! Plus, we put together an excellent collection of free weather worksheets to practice math, reading and writing. But, before we begin, join our Facebook Group and “like” our Facebook Page, so you won’t miss out on any of our educational fun!
🧪 Weather STEM Experiments: Tornado in a Bottle
There are tons of great dino science experiments to choose from!
- Create a tornado in a bottle with a couple of (empty) 2-liter soda bottles and a Tornado Tube. You can also add colored lamp oil for a fun twist! Since water is more dense than oil, the oil floats on top and when they swirl together to create a tornado, the oil goes through the vortex first (making your tornado colored!). Another extension of this project is to add small objects (like beads) to the water. Just make sure the objects are small enough to fit through the Tornado Tube opening! Have your kids predict what they think will happen to the objects, and then test it out!
- Make your own lightning with this fun experiment, or watch this video on how to make DIY Lightning in a Bottle.
- Learn why the sky is blue with this “Blue Sky Experiment.”
- If you have a rainbow lover in your house, you must do this STEM experiment where you make a rainbow using water, a bowl, a mirror and your phone!
- For our older kids, here is a great DIY thermometer and article by Scientific American.
📚 Weather Books & Reading Material
Take your pick from these free rock and mineral worksheets and reading materials!
- I put together a list of some of our favorite weather-related books! Some are even free on Amazon Kindle Unlimited (which is free for 30 days and totally worth trying!).
- The Curious Garden by Peter Brown
- Thundercake by Patricia Polacco
- Toy Meets Snow by Emily Jenkins
- The Storm Book by Charlotte Zolotow (Caldecott Honor Winner)
- When the Wind Blows by Linda Booth Sweeney
- Blizzard by John Rocco
- The Snowy Day by Ezra Keats
- Red Rubber Boot Day by Mary Lyn Ray
- Rain by Manya Stojic
- Snow by Cynthia Rylant
- Bear Snores On by Karma Wilson and Jane Chapman
- Tap Tap Boom Boom by Elizabeth Bluemle
- Kindergarten – 2nd Grades:
- Read about all kinds of fun weather-related topics with Weather Whiz Kids! You can pick from any of the following!
- Print out this Weather Vocabulary worksheet to learn new weather-related words and terms!
- 3rd – 5th Grades:
- Read this to learn about how clouds are classified.
- Pick from any of these weather articles from Scholastic
- Hurricanes: Severe Weather and Natural Disasters
- Earthquakes
- Tornadoes
- Winter Storms
- Volcanoes
✏ Free Weather Writing Worksheets
- Kindergarten – 2nd Grade:
- Make your own cloud observations every day for a week and fill out this free worksheet to record what types of cloud formations you saw.
- There are some fantastic weather writing worksheets (and TONS of other free weather activities in this 40 page, printable workbook!).
- Complete this weather word search worksheet.
- Watch the following video where a Weather Channel meteorologist is interviewed by a kid reporter. Then write a paragraph about if you would want to be a meteorologist. Why or why not? What seems fun? What do you think you would not like about the job?
- 3rd – 5th Grade:
- Complete this fantastic Weather vs Climate workbook that has both reading material and writing worksheets.
🧮 Weather Math Games & Worksheets
- Kindergarten – 2nd Grades:
- 3rd – 5th Grades:
- Did you know that math is very important to the field of meteorology and weather predicting? Read these article to learn why (and how math is used)!
🖌 DIY Weather Station: Free Printables
I love these weather arts and crafts projects!
- Make your own DIY weather station at home with these free printables and this weather chart! This is one of those times when a laminating machine is extremely helpful. Just like I said when we were making Chore Cards, you will definitely keep using a laminating machine over and over again (for SO many things), once you get one!
- You can also learn how to draw all of the following weather pictures.
And the most fun part… share a photo or video of your weather science experiments, your weather art projects, or any of your other fun activities on Facebook! Make sure to include a link to this website or to our Facebook Group and Facebook Page, so that we can see it too! I’ve purposefully added a lot of options for parents who need to keep their kiddos occupied for more time and to allow you to cater to your children’s preferences.
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