HBCPK Kinder Science Class September 26, 2012
Clouds and Weather Tools
Objective:
By the end of class student will be able to recognize different types of clouds and understand how
clouds form. They will be able to recognize weather tools and identify what they do.
Lesson #1 Where is the water?
Materials. Cups of water, ice, clear crystals, tea kettle, cookie sheet
We are going to set up an experiment that needs to sit for a few minutes. As careful as possible we
want you to pour water into the cup of ice with the line on it. Pour the water to just the line. If you
are over just a bit that is OK. Get really really close. Take your paper towel and make sure the cup is
dry on the outside. Place the paper towel at the top of the table and leave the cup alone for now.
Come sit on the floor
Observation we have a cup of ice water that is dry on the outside. There are no leaks in the cup.
Question What will happen to the cup if we wait a few minutes? Will the cup be wet or dry on the
outside?
Hypothesis
WE are going to leave the experiment on the tables for a few minutes .
Clouds are formed from water that get squished together = condensed. We see water, drink water,
play in water, water is all around us. Some of the water we can’t even see. That water is called
water vapor and is a gas. Everyone take a deep breath, our lungs are filled with air and water vapor
as we don’t like it when our lungs get dried out. Water vapor is all around us, we just can’t see it.
Let’s play a little game. We have these plastic crystals we are going to spread out. Please don’t grab
them, you can pick up one and look at it. When they are all spread out it is hard to see. But when
we push them all together, = condense we can see them better, just like last week we found that
water molecules like sticking together.
Experiment
Results The cup should be pretty wet, or at least have some water drops on the outside.
Conclusion and discussion Where did the water come from? Did the cup leak? Look at your
water line, is there more or less water in the cup? (depending on how long the experiment is left out it
could be either, but if we do it quickly, the water level shouldn’t change) So if the cup didn’t leak,
where did the water come from? The water came from the air! Water vapor in the air gathered
around the cold cup of water and condensed on the cup, where it met up with a few of it’s buddies and
formed drops.
Clean up, clean up every buddy clean up Toss all the ice and water into a bucket and stack
the cups in a bucket.
DEMO cloud (steam water vapor) and rain
Materials electric tea kettle, extension cord, water, ice and cookie sheet and glass fish bowl.
Ask the young scientists if they think I can make it rain in the classroom. What do we need to make it
rain? Answer.. clouds How do I make a cloud, what is a cloud made of? Clouds are made of
water, water vapor and ice depending on how high they are in the sky. Remember the plastic
crystals on the floor. Like water vapor they were hard to see completely until we condensed them,
squeezed them together. When we heat up water and make it boil it turns into steam, or water
vapor. When the water vapor is squeezed together/ Condensed we can see a cloud forming, but
when it is allowed to spread out it disappears quickly.
Show students that you put water in the tea kettle and turn it on. Make sure they are all safely away
from the kettle and the steam. It will take a few minutes but the water will boil and then you will see
the steam/water vapor come out the top. As soon as it is allowed to spread around the room it
disappears. But if we try to squeeze it, or Condense it we can see a cloud forming.
Put the glass fish bowl over the top and “catch” the steam or water vapor and create the cloud just to
let the kids see it a bit longer. Then release the water vapor into the room.
Now put the glass bowl down and pick up the cookie sheet with the ice on top (be sure to have a
cookie sheet with edges or the ice will melt all over the place. Place the tea kettle under the cookie
sheet with ice and watch how the water vapor Condenses on the bottom of the cookie sheet. Then
once you have enough vapor on the bottom you will see drops of water. The water vapor condensed
so much that it can’t hold on anymore and it will “rain” .. the drops of water will fall (might need
some gentle tapping) off the bottom of the cookie sheet. If the kids are behaving , you get let it
“rain” on their heads.
Now clouds come in all sorts of shapes, and sizes and each one means something a little different.
Meteorologists people who study the weather, can look at a cloud and tell you if it is likely to rain,
pass by, or bring a change of weather. Let’s make some different types of clouds with cotton balls and
blue paper.
Making clouds types
Materials, blue paper, cotton balls, glue sticks, lables, for each child. Name labels too.
Some clouds are very high in the sky and look very wispy. It is very cold up high in the sky so most of
the water is frozen in the clouds. These clouds generally mean fair weather. Take a glue stick and
gently smear it on the top of the page. Now take a cotton ball and pull it apart gently, like you are
trying to stretch it very thin. Then carefully place some tiny wispy almost hair like “clouds” on the
paper where you put the glue stick down. Now take the label that says Cirrus and place it right
below the cotton ball cloud.
Some clouds are in the middle of the sky, and they are big and fluffy and white. These clouds are
Cumulous clouds and mean fun fair weather. These are the clouds we like to look for pictures in.
Take 3 cotton balls and pull them apart gently, but not so much as the Cirrus clouds. Just a little.
Using your glue stick draw a circle in the middle on the side of the paper so you have a circle of glue.
Place the fluffy Cumulous clouds around the circle. Place the label just below the cloud.
Some clouds in the middle of the sky are dark and fluffy and seem to reach high into the sky. These
dark clouds are Cumulonimbus clouds and mean rain is coming and soon. These clouds have a
flat bottom and fluffy tops and are very thick. Take the 5dark colored cotton balls and scrunch them
together. Now take your glue stick and place a big blob, or rectangle going up the page, then stick the
cotton balls These clouds are taller than Cumulous clouds.
Now there is a cloud you can actually touch!. It is called Fog! It is a low flat Stratus Cloud .
Sometimes the fog is so thick it can actually sprinkle, but generally Fog just means that the ground
was warm and the air around it was cool. Take a cotton ball and roll it out and stretch it out a little.
Not as much as for Cirrus clouds but make it flat. Now take your glue stick and draw a line near the
ground and put your Fog on the glue line. Add your label!
Now lets go outside to see what the clouds look like.
They get to take home their cloud chart and if time we will explain their cloud weather chart to keep
too.
Science Activity Link: This is a lesson on clouds, their types, and what we can learn about weather by observing them. It
also focuses on important science process skills including observation, communication, classification, and others.
Objective: The children will observe and recognize the different cloud shapes and varieties. They will classify the clouds in
terms of color, shape and location, and describe, in simple words, what weather they may bring.