Pre-K Weather Theme Unit

~ Pre-K & Preschool theme ideas for learning about the weather ~

Books

Rainy

Stormy

Windy

Cloudy

Seasons

Rhymes

Rain, Rain Nursery Rhyme

Rain, rain, go away,
Come again
Another day.
All the children
Want to play.

Little Wiggle Worm Fingerplay

The little wiggle worm
(wiggle pipe cleaner worm)
Went crawling underground.
(wiggle worm under hand)
Down came the rain;
(wiggle fingers downward)
Soon mud was all around.
(make a disgusted face; open arms wide)
Rain filled the tunnels
(open hand; move fingers together)
And pushed the little worm.
(push worm through the other hand)
So the puddles on the ground
(make an O with hand)
Were the only place to squirm.
(wiggle worm into O)

Whether the Weather

Whether the weather is fine
Or whether the weather is not.
Whether the weather is cold
Or whether the weather is hot.
We'll weather the weather
Whatever the weather
Whether we like it or not.

Mitten Fingerplay

Here is a mitten, (hold up one hand)
A snug, fuzzy one (rub palms together)
With a place for my fingers (wiggle four fingers)
And a place for my thumb. (wiggle thumb)
Here are two mittens, (hold up two hands)
A colorful sight. (move hands back and forth)
One for the left hand; (hold up left hand)
And one for the right. (hold up right hand)
-- from The Mailbox

Rain Rain Printable

Songs

Song Book: Mr. Sun
by Raffi

PowerPoint: Mr. Sun
by Raffi

Rainy and Stormy Weather Activities

Rain, Rain Nursery Rhyme

Rain, rain, go away,
Come again
Another day.
All the children
Want to play.

Little Wiggle Worm Fingerplay

Rain Dance

[Large Group]
Children rub their fingers together to make a mist, rub their hands together to make a drizzle, pat knees to make a downpour, stomp the floor to make thunder. Then reverse the movements for the rain to stop.

Rainbows

[Art]
We use markers to draw colored arcs on half of a coffee filter, paint over the filter with the water, and watch the colors blend together.

Umbrella Stamping Game

[Math, Literacy]
Write a letter or numeral on each umbrella, and make a copy for each child. Children will draw a number or letter card from a stack (or roll a die), find that letter/numeral on their mat, and stamp it out. You can use rubber stamps or bingo dot markers. As an alternative, you can have children draw an "X" over the umbrella if stamps or bingo dot markers are not available.

Umbrella Game
Printable

Raindrop Counting

[Math]
We use blue felt for our math mats and clear flat floral marbles for the raindrop counters. The children listen for thunderclaps (the teacher clapping hands a certain amount of times), and place that amount of raindrops on the mat. For example, four claps mean to count four raindrops onto the cloud.

Umbrella Grid Game

[Math]
To play a grid game, children roll a game die, identify the numeral and count out that amount of manipulatives. Each manipulative is placed over one picture in the grid. Children play until the whole grid is full. This grid game uses clear flat floral marbles which can be found in craft stores. The clear glass represents rain drops.

Umbrella Grid Game
10 Spaces

Umbrella Grid Game
20 Spaces

Counters: Clear Flat Floral Marbles

Prism Rainbows

[Science]
Children explore prisms to see how light gives us rainbows. The children draw a picture of what they see in the prism. (Children are exploring properties of light.)

Mud Pies

[Cooking]
We mix two packages of instant chocolate pudding. The children help add the "dirt" (pudding mix) and "rain" (milk) to make "mud." To make this part extra fun, I punch holes in a styrofoam bowl and when the children pour the milk into the bowl it drips like rain into the mixing bowl. The children help mix the mud with a spoon. I give each child two Oreos in a ziplock bag to crush to make some extra dirt. Each child places a gummi worm in a cup, adds the pudding "mud" and the crushed "dirt".

Rain Prop Box

[Dramatic Play Center]
Raincoats, Rain boots, Umbrellas, Rain/thunder sounds CD

Windy Weather Activities

Windsocks

[Art, Science]
Children decorate white construction paper, and glue rainbow colored crepe streamers along the bottom. We bend the paper into a tube and staple it. Last, we punch two holes in the top and tie yarn to make a hanger.

What Can the Wind Move?

[Science]
This is a science experiment with wind where children blow on objects to simulate the wind. We first predict which of these objects can be moved by wind: paper cup, cotton, yarn, block, rock. Then we experiment by blowing on each item to see which will move and which will not. Other objects are placed in the science center for further experimentation: drinking straw, eraser, seashell, feather, leaf, paper clip, spoon.

Cloudy Weather Activities

Cloud Art

[Art]
After reading the book, It Looked Like Spilt Milk, we clipp cotton balls in clothespins, dip them in white paint, and use them to paint clouds onto blue paper. The children paint their clouds to resemble other shapes, such as a dog, castle, horse, etc. Each page saays: "It looked like ________."

Sunny and Warm Weather Activities

Fans

[Art]
Children fold paper fans and decorate them with crayons or markers.

Solar Heat

[Science]
We have a class discussion: Why do we have warm days and cold days? Does the sun give us heat? The children predict what will melt in the sun: chocolate, butter, birthday candle, cheese, crayons, etc. We place each item in a foil baking cup, place them in a muffin tin, and leave them for a while in the sunshine. For an extra treat, we also leave a foil cup of chocolate chips for each child in the sunshine (covered with clear plastic wrap). When the chocolate melts, the kids have chocolate dip for pretzel sticks! This idea came from the book Mudpies to Magnets.

Cold Weather Activities

See the Winter Ideas page for all of the cold weather activities.

More Activities

Story Retelling

[Literacy]
Choose a weather-themed book that you would consider good literature (good characters, plot, beginning, middle, end, etc.) Show the book to the children and tell them to think about what happened in the story, and the people (characters) and places they saw in the story. Think about what each character said. Give each child a piece of paper and ask them to draw something they remember from the story. Remind them that this should not be a picture of their cat or their friends, but only pictures of things from the book. After each child has illustrated the story, have them retell the story in their own words. Either record each child with a voice recorder or write their dictation on the page.