One of the most visible areas of science is weather science! Every day we say changing weather like rain, wind, and cloud formations. Kids will have fun learning what is air pressure and how it impacts weather with engaging air pressure experiments using eggs, ping pong balls, and a burning candle project. Children will also learn about the water cycle with engaging water cycle activities where they will build their own model or a water cycle in a bag to watch how water changes from a liquid to gas. Finally, students will enjoy lots of weather activities like making a weather vane, growing a rainbow, types of cloud activities, rain in a jar, and lots of free weather printables and weather worksheets! You can create a whole weather theme with all these fabulous resources for preschool, kindergarten, first grade, 2nd grade, 3rd grade, 4th grade, 5th grade, and 6th graders.
Weather is the mix of events, rain or clouds, that happen each day in our atmosphere. Weather is different in locations all over the world and changes quickly. Most weather happens in the troposphere, the part of Earth’s atmosphere that is closest to the ground. The weather events that happen in an area are controlled by changes in air pressure.
The science of weather is called meteorology. Meteorologists study the weather and try to predict it.
What is air pressure
Air pressure is the weight of air molecules pressing down on the Earth. The pressure of the air molecules changes as you move upward from sea level into the atmosphere. The highest pressure is at sea level where the density of the air molecules is the greatest. Typically, when air pressure is high their skies are clear and blue. The high pressure causes air to flow down and fan out when it gets near the ground, preventing clouds from forming. When air pressure is low, air flows together and then upward where it converges, rising, cooling, and forming clouds. Remember to bring an umbrella with you on low pressure days because those clouds might cause rain or other types of precipitation.
Air pressure experiments
To help kid understand what is air pressure, here are a couple fun, engaging air pressure science experiments to try:
- Simple Air Pressure Experiments for kids
- Explore the effect of air pressure on water with this amazing experiment with Burning Candle Experient Worksheet
- Bernoulli’s Principle Ping Pong Ball Air Pressure Experiment
Water Cycle Activities
The water cycle is the path that all water follows as it moves around our planet in its different states: solid, liquid, and gas. Liquid water is found in oceans, rivers, and lakes (including underground lakes). Solid water, or ice, is found in glaciers, snow, and at the poles. Water gas, or vapor, is found in Earth’s atmosphere.
You can explore the water cycle and how water changes state and moves with these fun the water cycle activity ideas for kids of all ages!
- EPIC Lego Water Cycle Model for Kids
- Easy the water cycle activity for kids
- Water Cycle in a Bag Weather Activity with free printable worksheet
- Free Printable Water Cycle for Kids Flip Book
Explore how weather impacts clouds, cold fronts, and how we can use a homemade weather vane to predict weather with these weather activity ideas for elementary age students.
- Type of Cloud Activities for Kids with FREE Printable Worksheets
- Cold Front Weather Science Experiments for Kids
- How to Make a Weather Vane – easy weather science project for elementary age students
- Rain Cloud for Kids experiment and free worksheet
You can incorporate these fun weather crafts, a grow a rainbow experiment, and lots more engaging activities to make learning about weather fun!
- Lots of fun ideas for a weather theme this week
- Grow a Rainbow Activity for Kids
- Clever Rain Craft for kids to make
- Hibernation preschool activities learning about weather
- Severe Storms for Kids – includes tornado in a bottle, what to do in an emergency, and storm worksheets for kids
- Water Cycle Craft plus 2 Hands-on Water Cycle Activities for Kids
Kids learn by doing, but also by writing things down and referencing them to review. These fun water cycle printables, types of clouds mini book, four seasons printable, and huge weather unit filled with free weather worksheets allows you to round out your study and dig a little deaper into weather science!
- Large Printable Weather Unit for kids
- Free Printable Seasons Worksheets w/ Free 4 Season Printables
- FREE Printable Water Cycle Worksheets for Kids
- Lots of weather printables to help kids learn about weather terms while epracticing math and literacy skills
- Clouds for Kids Mini Book
Learn weather science with FUN activity ideas such as air pressure activities, types of clouds, the water cycle projects, free weather worksheets, and weather crafts for preschoolers, kindergartners, grade 1, grade 2, grade 3, grade 4, grade 5, and grade 6 students.
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