Teaching about weather is always one of my favorite science topics because there are so many great experiments to try. I wasn’t sure how I was going to teach about weather in a toddler friendly way without true science experiments, but I am really excited about all the fun activities we tried this week!
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Here were our plans for Weather Week:
And here are the details of each activity:
Here are the books that we used to begin each day:
CloudyWith a Chance of Meatballsby Judi Barrett
Down Comes the Rain by Franklyn Branley
Once There Was a Raindrop by Judith Anderson and Mike Gordon
Learn About Snow by Christopher Hernandez
Learn About Rain by Christopher Hernandez
Learn About Wind by Christopher Hernandez
Umbrella & Rain Craft:
For this activity I cut out an umbrella and handle shape from colored paper and had Madelynn glue it together to make an umbrella. Then I filled a cup with blue liquid watercolor paint, gave her an eyedropper and let her squeeze raindrops onto her picture. We practiced a little bit before we dropped water on the paper because she had to figure out how to squeeze gently to make drops and not a flood!
Eye Dropper Water Play:
This fine motor activity was super easy and fun for Madelynn. I gave her colored water, a small sorting tray, a few cups and her fine motor dropper then let her just play however she wanted. There’s something about water play that really keeps her engaged, especially when she is able to just free play and explore.
Cloud and Rain Sun Catcher:
Making contact paper sun catchers are super easy to do for any theme and this one turned out even cuter than I originally pictured. To prep the activity I cut out the cloud and 3 raindrops from black card stock that I doubled up to make 2 identical sets. I cut a small piece of contact paper and laid it on the table sticky side up. Then I stuck one set of the cutouts on the page and added cut outs for the eyes and mouth. I also set out small tissue paper squares in white and blue for Madelynn to use and let her fill in the cloud and rain drops by sorting the colors. Separating the tissue paper squares was a bit of good fine motor practice as well as they were all stuck together from cutting. After she filled in all of the shapes, I glued the matching outlines on top of the cloud and raindrops then placed another sheet of contact paper over top to seal it. Finally I cut the excess contact paper from around the shapes and taped the raindrops to the cloud with fishing line so they would hang underneath. A little bit more work for me in this craft but they always turn out so cute!
Dot Stamp Rainbow:
Okay so I know rainbows aren’t really weather, but after talking about rain and sun I figured we’d talk a little about rainbows too. So I made this rainbow printable and lined up the stampers in order for Madelynn to use. I also placed a color version next to her that she could look at to see what color to use next in her rainbow.
Pony Bead Rainbow:
Threading beads on pipe cleaners takes a lot of concentration so this was a fun quiet activity for Madelynn to do. I started with a foam floral block and added pipe cleaners for each color of the rainbow. Then I set out cups with beads in each color for Madelynn to thread onto the pipe cleaners. I helped her with pulling out the color pipe cleaner she wanted to do and then pushed them back in afterwards. Overall pretty simple and I love the finished 3D product!
Puddle Jumping:
We didn’t have any rain this week to make real puddles, so I made pretend puddles from blue card stock. Then we grabbed rain boots and had fun pretending to puddle jump indoors.
Rainbow Limbo:
To get Madelynn moving we played rainbow limbo. For our rainbow, I tied a string between the two columns on the sides of our dining room and tied rainbow colored scarves on so they hung almost to the floor. Then Madelynn tried to go under (or through) the rainbow in all different ways that I called out (hopping, crawling, bear walks, etc.)
Umbrella Bean Bag Toss:
Madelynn still isn’t the greatest at throwing, so any time I can find a game to practice throwing is a plus. For this game I opened an umbrella and set out a pile of beanbags. Madelynn and I took turns trying to throw them into the umbrella. She really just wanted to watch me throw them, so taking turns was a good compromise.
Rainbow Scarf Dance:
We do a lot of dancing in our house so I decided why not add scarves into the mix? I piled up all our rainbow scarves, turned Toddler Pandora on our TV and let Madelynn go wild. Super easy and super fun.
Weather Snacks:
Build a Sun Snack – Cut cheese slices into circles and triangles using a small round cookie cutter and a knife. Set them out on a plate with round crackers to build suns and enjoy.
Pineapple and Carrot Sun – Core a pineapple and cut it into a round slice. Halve carrots lengthwise and place them around the pineapple in the center. Simple, healthy and delicious.
Cloud Jello – Make one box of berry blue Jello following the quick set method on the box. After stirring in the ice the Jello should begin to quickly thicken up. Scoop spoonfuls into clear cups and layer with squirts of canned whipped cream for clouds. Place in refrigerator to completely set and enjoy!
Build a Rainbow – Use a rainbow printable to sort Froot Loop cereal. This snack was great for color sorting, and gave me an excuse to eat Froot Loops for breakfast all week 😉
Rainbow Fruit Cup – Use strawberries, oranges, pineapple, kiwi, blueberries and grapes layered in a tall clear cup to make a delicious healthy rainbow treat!
Weather Sensory Bin:
In this bin: blue rock vase filler, a toy sun, cotton ball clouds, pipe cleaner lightning bolts, blue gem rocks for raindrops, foam snowflakes, and clear round gems for hail. I gave Madelynn this bin with a variety of scoops and cups to explore.
Rain & Wind Bin:
In this bin: blue water, little people, cups, straws, and cotton balls. Madelynn had fun squeezing the rain out of the cotton ball clouds and blowing bubbles with the straws that I gave her to make wind.
Shaving Cream Cloud Play:
All you need for this sensory activity is shaving cream and a tray. I literally just put a bunch of shaving cream on the tray and let Madelynn squish it into clouds and play for as long as she wanted.
Rainbow Ice Play:
In this bin: rainbow colored ice, water, fine motor tools, cups and bowls.
Weather I-Spy:
Using our first sensory bin for the week, I took pictures of each weather item and then had Madelynn search for them and sort them out. We talked about each type of weather as she found each piece.
Want all of this week’s printables and plans? You can grab them here:
Or you can grab our entire year of themes and plans here:
Then check out all of our Tot School themes here:
September:
October:
November:
December:
Gingerbread, Reindeer (coming soon), Christmas
January:
February:
March:
April:
May:
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Ty!
Hi Jessica! Do your lessons in the Tot School build on each other at all? I was wondering if I could start using your curriculum now and rearrange it to fit into the rest of this year. I didn’t want to start it if the lessons built on each other from Sept to May…
They are not necessarily sequential so you can definitely start at any time with any theme!
What an amazing hands on teacher you are!
I taught preschool and kindergarten for years and love your ideas.
Now,renewing for grandkid days.
Thanks so much!
Thank you so much!