Observing the weather is something we do every day. At some point during the day, Bean always runs up to the window to check outside. She then comments on the weather, saying that it is sunny or rainy or snowing outside. She also touches the window to check if it is hot, warm or cold. It makes me so happy that she enjoys making scientific observations like this! So I had to make a weather felt board! This way after she observes the weather outside, she can change the weather on the board to reflect it.
I stuck to the basics - sun, moon, clouds, rain, snow, and lightning (wind will be next!). I intend to create a "natural disasters" weather felt board, which will include floods, tornadoes, hurricanes, blizzards and earthquakes. And we'll continue adding to it as we go over each type.
For most of the pieces, I made two. This way if we are working on a weather activity, each child can have a set of their own. For the "Today's Weather is..." felt board, we will use only one. I made the suns using yellow and orange felt. One has orange rays and the other has yellow rays. We made them like this because Bean commented on how sometimes it is hot outside and other days it is warm outside. So one sun represents "hot" weather and the other represents "warm" weather. The circle in the middle can be removed as well.
We made a yellow moon and a white full moon, as well as several crescent moons. Soon we will have a "Phases of the Moon" felt board, so we can also check outside at night to see what phase of the moon is showing.
I eventually intend to make a giant weather board with each day of the week, though for now we are working on just the weather of the day. So for each of the other pieces, there is at least 7 copies. You never know, it could be stormy all week!
Bean really enjoys setting up the scene and showing me what happens...
Surprise lightning!
We also made "storm clouds".
Because that looks more realistic. :)
But some days don't get "super stormy", and sometimes it does, but only in certain areas. So it's good to have all kinds of clouds! (Oh, we definitely plan to make different clouds, too.)
Other days it snows. And as much as I wanted to make them all the same snowflake for the sake of simplicity... no two snowflakes are the same. So alas, they are all different. :)
And of course rain as well. Some raindrops are smaller than others, because rain can be a drizzle or a downpour. This distinction is not lost on Bean.
And some days are of course partly sunny or cloudy!
Set up next to each other we have a day and night board to display the weather forecast for the day.
And then Munchkin decided the weather was going to get a bit snowy...
And then we would have a storm of sorts. It looks pretty crazy, so we'll have to stay inside for this one.
And at night there was going to be a bit of a storm...
But then the day's weather caught up to the night and started storming.
We will certainly have a lot of fun with this board! It will be perfect for observing and documenting the weather outside and for exploring other kinds of weather (like make-believe super storms).
I am currently working on a "Phases of the Moon" felt board, and soon after that - Space! I am super excited!
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