Summer
Activity:
Learn Where Wind Comes From
If your child is curious about how weather works, this experiment is a great place to start. This easy-to-create demonstration shows exactly how upward movement of warm air creates wind.
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What You Need:
- Paper
- Pencil
- Thumbtack
- Scissors
- Thread
- Clothing hanger
- A heat source (sun-heated pan, lit table lamp, dryer, etc.)
What You Do:
- Have your child draw a spiral shape on a piece of paper and cut it out.
- Help her to poke a hole in the center of the spiral with a thumbtack.
- She can now push one end of the thread into the hole, tie it and attach the other end to the center of the clothing hanger.
- Ask her to hold the hanging spiral several inches above a heat source.
- Watch what happens. Ask your child to explain what she sees. Did the spiral move?
- Explain to her that when warm air moves upward, it pushed the bottom of the spiral and made it spin. This is the same motion that causes wind. Warm air rises and air pressure under it reduces and cools air nearby to take its place. Wind is the sideways moving of air and is the cause of changing weather patterns!
