Observing clouds with children. Lesson notes.
Watching clouds with children Watching clouds with children is a very exciting activity.
Today I want to remember the happy days of the passing summer and offer you a comprehensive lesson on observing clouds with children. This lesson is suitable both for observation in kindergarten by teachers, as well as for parents outside kindergarten.
From my teaching experience, I can say that children really like observing such natural phenomena as clouds and are never boring. However, the latter directly depends on adults.
Watching clouds with children in a playful way
So, one fine summer day we looked up and saw...
Now it’s worth asking a riddle:
White cotton wool is floating somewhere. The lower the wool, the closer the rain.
Or:
Everyone is floating, floating somewhere, White in the sky, like cotton wool. Then they will merge in a whimsical way - they will turn into a white bird. They will melt away like smoke, and become one speck.
Of course these are clouds. Children are invited to observe the clouds and express their opinion on what they look like. To make observing the clouds more interesting and fun, offer the children the game “Catch the Cloud.”
For this game you need to prepare cardboards with slits in the middle in advance. Children look at clouds through a hole in cardboard. Children really like this game moment and they very vividly tell who caught which cloud.
Ask the children to choose adjectives for the word “clouds” - what are they? (white, fluffy, fabulous, etc.). Ask your child to complete the phrase: “the clouds are light, like...?” (fluff, cotton wool, feather, etc.). Ask your child how he understands the expression “His head in the clouds.”
Where do clouds come from? Invite the children to conduct an experiment.
The cloud in a jar experience.
In a group of children, an adult conducts this experiment, and the children observe and draw conclusions. At home, you can involve your child in the experiment, but be sure to warn that you will be working with hot water. Discuss safety rules.
For the experiment you will need a three-liter jar, an iron lid, hot (but not boiling water) water, and ice cubes.
Hot water is poured into the jar to a height of approximately 2.5 centimeters. Now cover the jar with an iron lid and put ice cubes on it. The warm air inside the jar rises and cools. And the vapor contained in the air forms a cloud.
This is what happens in nature: drops, having heated up on the ground, rise upward. There they get cold, and they huddle together to form a cloud. When they meet together, they increase in size, become heavy and fall to the ground in the form of rain.
See how the drops flow down the sides of the jar. Notice what happens to the ice on the lid, why did a puddle form next to the ice? (Ice melts in warmth, since ice is frozen water). Have the children look at a diagram of the water cycle.
Conclude: clouds are droplets of water that, when heated by the sun's rays, turned into steam and rose upward. When there are many such evaporated droplets in one place, we observe clouds in the sky.
It's time to move a little. You can have a physical minute.
Physical exercise “Cloud”
Starting position: squatting or kneeling.
A little white cloud (Rounded arms in front of you) Rising above the roof (Rise from your haunches or stand up from your knees) The cloud rushed Higher, higher, higher (Pull yourself up with your arms) The wind is a cloud (Smooth swaying of your arms above your head from side to side) Hooked on a steep slope. The cloud turned into a thundercloud . (With your hands, describe a large circle downwards from the sides and lower them; sit down).
Presentation for children “Clouds are floating across the sky”
Clouds can be of different shapes, colors, sizes, cirrus, rain, cumulus, stratus. The appearance of clouds depends on how quickly they form and how much water they contain.
In order to tell children about different types of clouds, I offer the presentation “Clouds are floating across the sky.” To launch a flash presentation, click on the title or image below. All subscribers get access to download the updated version of the presentation with the karaoke song “Clouds, white-maned horses.” The subscription form is located in the website bar.
Presentation “Clouds are floating across the sky”
Outdoor game “Find the cloud”
For this game you need to place pictures or photographs of different types of clouds at different ends of the room or group. Then the adult says: “We’re all running towards the cumulus clouds!” Then the children explain why they came running to this particular picture. Then the adult invites everyone to run to another type of cloud, etc. The game lasts 3-5 minutes.
Creative workshop “What clouds look like”
And now all children are invited to a creative workshop. Here all the clouds will most miraculously turn into various animals, plants or something unusual. Whatever the inexhaustible childhood imagination suggests.
Children are given pictures of clouds and markers. The child must draw what he sees on the cloud. Examples of drawings:
This is the kind of educational observation of clouds you can do one summer. And it’s possible more than once, and not only in the summer.. But it is in the summer that you can see the most interesting clouds.
