Introduce your child to early science concepts with this fun observational activity. She'll pick a cloud to observe, then chart its movements by tracing the outline at different time increments. She can observe multiple clouds and compare her results to learn more about clouds and how they behave.
What You Need:
- Window
- Clouds in the sky
- Leftover laminating film or plastic wrap, approximately 8” x 11” (20 cm x 28 cm)
- Permanent markers in different colors
- Clear tape
What You Do:
- Tape the clear laminating film to the inside of a window.
- Have your child look through the film and choose one cloud to observe.
- When she's picked her clould, have her trace the outline of that cloud on the film with permanent marker.
- About a minute later, have her make her second observation. If she can still see the cloud through the laminating film, have her trace its outline again using a different color of marker. If this outline overlaps the first one, she'll see that her cloud has moved very slowly, and she'll be able to chart which direction it moved. If the cloud is gone, she'll be able to see that it moved very fast.
- Ask her about her observations of the cloud. Did it move slowly or quickly? What does she think caused it to move that way?
- Have her do the activity multiple times or from multiple windows, then compare the different shapes, results and movement of the cloud drawings.
For an older child, have her use a ruler to measure the number of inches or centimeters the cloud moved across the laminating film. From that information, challenge her to speculate on how far she thinks the cloud actually moved across the sky!
By Sharon MacDonald
Adapted with permission from "Everyday Discoveries." Copyright 1998 by Sharon MacDonald. Used by Permission of Gryphon House, Inc., Maryland. All Rights Reserved.
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