Inside: Hands-on weather theme learning activities for toddlers and preschoolers
This weather theme shelf got my children so excited about the weather. Our monthly weather chart was a big hit! Every morning, they jumped out of bed to check the weather outside and fill in our monthly weather chart.
My favorite time to explore a weather theme is during season transitions. The weather changes so quickly. It can be all hot and sunny today and cold and wet the next day. Nothing beats these real-life experiences!
Related: To learn about how we do home learning at home with our shelf, check out this page first.
Read on for a list of all the fun weather theme activities we did this month.
Weather Theme Learning Shelf
- Pinterest Idea Board: [theme] WEATHER
- Unique Hashtag on Instagram: #weatherhts
- Focus Book: My Color is Rainbow by Agnes Hsu, Maisy’s Wonderful Weather Book by Lucy Cousins
The following activities are created for children of ages 1.5 years old to 6 years old. All the activities are categorized into the six main learning areas (language, numeracy, motor skills, discovery of the world, arts & creative expression, social & emotional development. Read more about these learning areas here.
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WEATHER THEME LEARNING ACTIVITIES FOR TODDLERS (1.5 TO 3 YEARS OLD)
- Sort shape cut outs into 4 basic shapes and stick them on the respective shape sun catchers. The frames are made with card stock papers that are cut into the 4 basic shapes. Then attach contact paper, with the sticky side up in the centre. (numeracy, motor skills)
- Make a ‘rain & clouds’ shaker bottle with by dropping cut up straws (rain) and cotton balls (clouds) into a bottle. (motor skills)
- Explore and mix colors of the rainbow in a zigloc bag (motor skills, discovery of the world, arts & creative expression)
- Match the colors of the rainbow and poke popsicle sticks into a box (motor skills, discovery of the world)
- Match the weather picture stones to the picture cards (discovery of the world)
All of the above activities for toddlers are suitable for preschoolers as well.
WEATHER THEME LEARNING ACTIVITIES FOR PRESCHOOLERS (3 TO 6 YEARS OLD)
- Dot your name with white paint (snow) and cotton bud (language, motor skills)
- Match all 26 letters on circle cut outs (the snow balls) to the letters on the blue paper. Provide a glue stick to stick these circles for extra motor skill practise or simply use white dot stickers. (language, motor skills)
- Make name rainbows with colorful dot stickers. Kids get to color matching and colors of the rainbow at the same time. (language, motor skills)
- Match weather picture stones to their beginning sounds (language)
- Match popsicle sticks with the words 阳 or 雨 written on them to the sun or the rain clouds. You can adapt this activity for English by writing the letters S and R or words sun and rain on the popsicle sticks. (language)
- Button on the ‘sun rays’ (long rectangle strips cut from yellow felt) onto the cardboard ‘sun’. I used hot glue to attach the buttons to the cardboard ‘sun’. (motor skills)
- Sew ‘rain drops’ (yarn) onto a DIY cardboard sewing board. We use a plastic yarn needle which is easy and safe for children to handle. (motor skills)
- Make a daily weather chart. At the end of the month, make a graph using the data collected (numeracy, discovery of the world)
- Count ‘rain drops’ (cut up blue straws) from the rain clouds (numeracy)
- Play with a DIY cardboard rainbow puzzle. The video tutorial to make this rainbow puzzle is found here. (discovery of the world, motor skills)
- Play with a DIY ‘What’s the weather like outside?’ paper plate toy. Check out this video to see the toy in action. (discovery of the world)
CRAFT PROJECTS, EXPERIMENTS & SENSORY PLAY
- Do a simple Science experiment to learn about rain. Stuff cotton balls at the top of a bottle and add blue water bit by bit to the cotton balls using a dropper. Eventually the cotton balls (the rain clouds) will be soak with water and water will start to drip into the bottle like rain. (discovery of the world, motor skills)
- Make a water cycle in a (ziploc) bag. Draw some clouds, an ocean and a sun on the bag and add some colored water. Attach the bag on the window. Observe the water evaporating and condensing in the bag over the next few days. (discovery of the world)
- Make a colorful rain painting. Place a paper standing in a tub/tray. Use a dropper and drip water color down the paper.(arts & creative expression, motor skills)
- Play with a ‘rain clouds’ sensory bin. Fill a tub with cotton balls. Provide droppers and colored water for some water sensory fun. (discovery of the world, motor skills)
- Go outside on a windy day and play with a DIY milk carton windmill. You can see my son playing with this windmill in this video. The video tutorial to make this windmill is found here. (discovery of the world, motor skills)
I made a fun shelf reveal video too where you can see the set up of this shelf under one minute. You can watch it here!
Any other questions or feedbacks for me? I love to hear from you. Be sure to check out the rest of our theme learning shelves and activities!
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