Does your child always demand to know why the sky is blue, how the sun moves across the sky, or where wind comes from? Then this experiment is for you! Demonstrate how wind is created with an entertaining activity, and introduce your child to the wild ways that weather works.
What You Need:
- Adult helper
- Paper and pencil
- Scissors
- Thumbtack
- Thread
- Clothes hanger
- Heat source
What to Do:
- On a piece of paper, have your child draw a spiral shape, then cut it out.
- Have the adult poke a small hole in the center of the spiral with the thumbtack.
- Push one end of the thread through the hole in the spiral. Tie it. Then attach the other end to a middle of a clothes hanger.
- Hold or hand the hanger with the spiral several inches above a radiator, a lit table lamb, or even a metal pan heated by the sun. (Don't put the spiral too close to the heat, and take it down when you are finished. Never leave it hanging near heat when you are not there to watch it.)
What Happened?
The spiral moved! As the warm air moved upward, it pushed against the underside of the spiral, and made it spin. It's this upward movement of air that causes winds. As warm air rises, the air pressure under it gets lower and cooler air nearby moves in to take its place. This sideways moving air is wind, and it usually brings a change in the weather.
By Shar Levine and Leslie Johnstone
Activity reprinted with permission from "Wonderful Weather," the book that answers kids' questions about snow, sun, and everything in between. From "Why is the sky blue?" to "What makes the wind blow?," "Wonderful Weather" has it all. By Shar Levine and Leslie Johnstone (Sterling Publishing 2005)
Add your own comment