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Fun and easy kids activities

What's the Weather Today? Weather Wheel

Nov 19, 20126,073 views
Pre Schooler
Weather for kids Save
What's the Weather Today? Weather Wheel Save
What's the Weather Today? Weather Wheel Save
What's the Weather Today? Weather Wheel Save
What's the Weather Today? Weather Wheel Save
What's the Weather Today? Weather Wheel Save

by TurkeyMom in Pre Schooler

Ages3–5 yrs
Prep20 min
Activity1 hr
Levelmedium
MessMedium
Works for1:1 · Small group · Class

Make a six-section weather wheel with paper clouds, sun, snowflakes and mittens, craft-stick labels and a magnet needle. Kids move the needle to today's weather and decide what to wear.

⚠️ Safety first

  • This project needs adult supervision and help, as the author notes.
  • Small magnets are a choking and swallowing hazard. Swallowing more than one magnet can cause serious internal injury. An adult attaches the magnets, keeps spares out of reach, and checks that they stay firmly in place.
  • Adult handles any cutting of the cardboard circle.

Before the kids arrive

  • Cut a cardboard circle for each child.
  • Cut a matching circle of construction paper and use the ruler to mark six pie sections, one for each weather condition.

Steps

  1. Talk about today's weather and jot down the weather words with simple sketches: sunny, windy, rainy, cloudy, snowy and cold.

  2. Draw and cut out clouds, grey clouds, suns, lightning strikes, snowflakes, mittens and winter hats.

  3. Glue the six-section pie chart onto the circular cardboard.

  4. Write each weather condition on a paper label and glue it to a craft stick.

  5. Choose the right pictures for each weather condition and glue them into their sections. Add glitter glue.

  6. Attach the craft-stick labels around the edge of the wheel.

  7. Make an arrow and attach it to one magnet to use as the weather needle.

  8. Adult: put the second magnet on the back of the wheel's center and set the arrow magnet on top so it moves around.

  9. Look outside, move the needle to today's weather, and decide what to wear.

Tips

  • This activity can be split into more than one session. Everything depends on the child's attention span.from the author
  • Start by learning two important words: meteorology and meteorologist. Then you have your own Resident Meteorologist.from the author
  • Simple sketches and drawings become a natural part of the activity.from the author
  • We always incorporate writing in our activities. Writing the labels makes a natural writing prompt.from the author
  • Using magnets for the pointer makes it easier on little hands to move, and a bit more interesting.from the author
  • Use the wheel to talk about dressing for the weather: full sleeves or half, pants or shorts, tights or socks, thick jacket or fleece?from the author

Make it your own

  • Talk about severe weather, such as tornadoes, flash flooding and warning sirens.
  • Use the wheel to start discussions: what makes the weather, how weather changes with the seasons, where rain comes from, what snow is, and what lightning is.

The story behind it

By TurkeyMom · November 2012
Weather for kids
What is the weather today mommy? That was the first question from my 4yr old, so we created our very own weather chart for our Resident Meteorologist.
1 / 7

What's the Weather Today? Weather Wheel: the original post

What is the weather today mommy? This was this first question from my 4yr old. She has to make many important decisions and choices today, which is -

What clothes should I wear to school? Can I wear full sleeves or half? Pants or shorts? Tights or socks? Thick jacket or fleece?

With that in mind we created a weather for kids activity for our Resident Meteorologist.So we put our thinking caps on and decided to study weather and make our very own weather chart. To start off we learnt two important words - Meteorology and Meteorologist.

Please remember this activity can be split into more than 1 session. Everything depends on the child’s attention span.

  • Circular cardboard
  • Construction paper
  • Craft sticks
  • Glue
  • Pens
  • Glitter glue – You can never have too much glitter !
  • Ruler
  • Magnets - 2

I’m going to break them into steps so it’s easier to follow. I must add that this project definitely needs some adult supervision and help.

Step 1 : Make a plan

Big S and I discussed about the day’s weather and I jotted down our findings to ease our planning.

weather for kids

Step 2: Getting all the materials ready

  1. We drew a few clouds, grey clouds, sun, lightning strikes, snow flakes, mittens and winter hats. Simple sketches and drawings become a natural part of the activity.

  1. I helped create a pie chart with six sections for our six weather conditions.

  2. She wrote the different weather conditions and glued them to the craft sticks to make labels. We always incorporate writing in our activities. Writing prompts become a natural part of our activity.

  1. We made an arrow and attached it to one of the magnets to use as our weather needle.

Step 3: Building the wheel

  1. Glue the pie chart to the circular cardboard.

  2. Choose the appropriate clippings for the weather conditions and glue them to the sections

  1. Attach the craft stick labels

  2. And finally use the magnets, one on the back and the other on the top to create the pointer. Its easier on the little hands to move and make it a bit more interesting.

All done , there you have it ! Weather for kids activity. Living in the Midwest Big S knows about tornadoes and flash flooding.All of us are aware of those mega sirens ! We spoke about severe weather scenarios. We talked about dressing appropriately for weather outside. That’s what got us started on this project in the first place.

  1. Different weather conditions.
  2. What makes the weather and how weather changes with seasons.
  3. Where does rain come from?
  4. What is snow?
  5. Rainy day and stormy weather.
  6. What is lightning ?
  7. How to dress appropriately for the different weather conditions.

Thanks for reading

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