Fun With Clouds

I started watching a friend’s little boy this week. This has helped me to be more intentional with my plans with Josiah. I decided to add a little more structure to our mornings, doing activities that the boys and Lexy can enjoy and learn from. This week, we focused on CLOUDS!

SENSORY TUB

I was so excited to come across some fun sensory tub ideas at Counting Coconuts. I followed her example and used:

-blue aquarium rocks for the sky

-cotton balls for the clouds

-rainbow pom poms

-silver pipe cleaners shaped like lightning bolts

-orange felt sun

-clear rocks (like the kind in floral departments) for hail

-blue beads for rain

I also added some toy airplanes and helicopters. Also, we used cds with storm and rain sounds while they played.

All three of them had LOADS of fun playing with this tub. There was a lot of pretend play…the planes had to land when the lightning came, ect. They also spend lots of time scooping and pouring.

I also used them time to talk to them about texture. The boys found things that were hard and soft. They also came up with words to describe the feeling of the pipe cleaners.

BOOKS and ACTIVITIES
I wish I would’ve taken a picture of the three of them sitting on the couch each day waiting for the story of the day. They were so cute. Each day we focused on a different book.

It Looked Like Spilt Milk – by Charles G. Shaw

The boys helped me to “read” this book by telling me what each cloud looked like. Afterwards, they made their own “It Looked Like” picture. I put white paint on blue construction paper. They used straws to blow (like wind) the clouds into different shapes. Then, they told me what their cloud looked like.

I wish I would’ve taken pictures of the final products. They turned out cute. We had two “It Looked Like a Butterfly” pictures and one “It Looked Like an Ice cream Cone” picture.

After a lot of blowing, they decided to paint clouds with cotton balls.

I worked on number recognition and counting with the boys with a simple game. They placed the correct number of raindrops on the clouds 1-5.

Little Cloud – By Eric Carle

This was another easy books for the boys to help “read.” After we read the book, we had our first ever, EDIBLE SENSORY TUB! So much fun! This idea came from Delightful Learning.

Each child got their own tub of whipped cream. I would’ve like to have them help make their own, but never got to the store to get what I needed. They used their whipped cream to make their own cloud shapes.

After a bit, I added some black food coloring to a little of their whipped cream so that they could create some storm clouds. It them became evident who was eating her project!

Science Experiment

I found this fun idea at 2 Teaching Mommies. After talking about what clouds are, Lexy predicted what happens when a cloud gets full. Prior to the experiment, Lexy felt the cotton ball and described it as light, soft, and dry.

Next, she dripped water onto the cotton ball until it felt full. She described it as heavy, soft and wet.

Then she squeezed the cotton ball, and IT RAINED!

Fine Motor Skills
They had fun working on their fine motor skills by transferring cotton balls with tongs.

Lexy decided to make a birthday cake out of cotton balls

Sequencing

They put storm clouds in order from Smallest to Biggest.

The Cloud Book – By Tomie de Paola

After reading about the different kinds of clouds, we went outside to observe clouds. Fortunately, we had a little break in all the rain. Unfortunately, the ground was too wet to lie in the grass to cloud gaze.

They also painted the clouds that they saw.

Music Time

A few times this week, I turned on some music and let them use instruments and jump around the room. I found a song on our “Hymns for Kids” cd called An Unclouded Day. After replaying it LOTS of times, we talked about that unclouded day we will have someday in Heaven!

Shapes in the Sky – By Josepha Sherman
Again, we talked about the different types of clouds. Then, they made a picture collage of the types using cotton balls.

We made a cloud in a bottle!
(picture coming soon)

We blew cotton balls with straws!

We walked on clouds! I was hoping to have a fogging day so that we could literally walk on clouds. That didn’t happen, so I had to improvise.
(picture coming soon)

Other Books we Used:

It’s Cloudy – By Julie Richards

Clouds – By Anne Rockwell

All in all, we had a very FUN and FULL week. Besides cloud activities, there was time for playing blocks, reading, playing outside, even a royal wedding… and much more!

To see what other preschoolers are up to, be sure to check out the Preschool Corner.