Weather Preschool Theme Activities and Lesson Plan Ideas
You can use a Weather Preschool Theme to teach your early learners all kinds of important skills! Teaching preschoolers about the weather and discussing your local climate is a great way to introduce early learners to important science concepts. Weather is a great place to start because it provides lots of tangible opportunities for preschoolers to experience important scientific concepts through hands on learning activities.
Weather Preschool Theme
Check out some of our favorite weather theme activities and printables below. Plus, get some great lesson plans and book suggestions for a fun weather theme your preschoolers will love this Spring. Climate affects our lives every day, kids can see and feel the weather. No matter what time of year it is a weather theme
How to Teach Weather to Preschoolers
Use your everyday weather to prompt activities and interest with your preschoolers. You can use a weather chart, create a weather station near a window, and draw pictures describing the weather. Ask questions, focus on the seasons, and having the children share if it is sunny, cloudy, raining, or snowing.
Share and talk about the clothes and equipment you use on different weather days. Umbrellas, shorts, winter boots, rain jackets…
Check out the fun lessons and activities below on clouds, snow, rain, tornado’s, rainbows, and more.
Cloud Lessons for Preschoolers
Spending a spring afternoon watching the clouds is a great way for preschoolers to begin learning about the weather while using their imagination. Ask your early learners to point out the shapes and characters they see in the clouds. Then, see who can identify the different types of clouds.
There are 4 different types of clouds and they all bring different kinds of weather with them. Teaching your preschoolers to notice the clouds is a good way to begin a preschool weather theme.
Try some of our favorite cloud lessons and activities with your preschoolers to learn more:
- Cloud Activities for Kindergarten
- Recycled Crayon Rain Cloud Craft
- Rain Cloud in a Jar Experiment
Then enjoy these magic filled cloud storybooks for even more fun and imagination inspired by the weather with your preschoolers this Spring:
- Little Cloud by Eric Carle
- The Cloud Book by Tomie de Paola
- The Cloud Spinner by Michael Catchpool
- Clouds by Anne Rockwell
Weather Science Activities for Preschoolers
Rainbow Lessons for Preschoolers
Remember the first time you saw a rainbow? Spotting a rainbow is really exciting because it doesn’t happen every day. A weather preschool theme wouldn’t be complete without learning about rainbows and what causes them. Plus, it’s a great introduction to lessons about climate for preschoolers.
Begin with these fun activities and printables:
- 25 Rainbow Activities for Kids
- 45 Rainbow Crafts and Activities
- Edible Rainbow Weather Putty
- Fizzing Rainbow Science
- Preschool Rainbow Engineering STEM
Learning about rainbows with preschoolers is also a fun way to practice colors and explore color mixing. Plus, it’s the perfect time to introduce lessons about the water cycle.
Try these activities for learning about the water cycle with preschoolers:
- Water Cycle Theme and Lessons
- Printable Water Theme Activities
- Rainforest Terrarium: Water Cycle in Action
Want more great read alouds to share with your preschool learners? Check out these 10 Books About Rainbows for Preschoolers.
Winter Weather Lessons for Preschool
Weather preschool theme lessons and activities are fun in every season, but our favorite form of precipitation is definitely snow! Learning about the weather during Winter months gives you lots of opportunities to learn all about snow, icicles, frost, blizzards, and snowflakes with your preschoolers.
Check out some favorite lessons and activities for winter weather:
- Edible Snow Playdough
- Montessori Snowflake Matching
- Winter Observation Printable
- Crystal Snowflake Ornaments
- Snowflake Art
Why wait for Winter to learn all about snow? You can do these fun activities any time with this 2 Ingredient Snow Dough Recipe that’s perfect for sensory exploration with early learners and weather preschool lessons too.
Then, try our favorite books about snow:
- The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats
- Katy and the Big Snow Plow by Virginia Lee Burton
- The Story of Snow: The Science of Winter’s Wonder by Jon Nelson and Mark Cassino
Weather Science Activities for Preschoolers
Exploring Weather in Nature
Spending time outdoors, exploring nature with preschoolers is my favorite way to learn about the weather. Getting out in nature gives preschool learners an opportunity to record the local weather, make observations about the weather and its effects.
Ask questions:
- Is the ground wet?
- Do you feel cold?
- Can you find any puddles?
- Do you see ice?
- Is the air warm?
Talking about what you can see, hear, and feel with preschoolers outdoors is a great way to help them begin to notice the weather around them and make observations. Preschoolers can record their own observations in nature journals.
Weather Activities
For even more fun, try a nature scavenger hunt or photo challenge with your preschoolers during your weather preschool theme lessons.
Here are a few to get you started:
- Free Nature Scavenger Hunt for Kids
- Fun Ways to Incorporate Nature Studies
- Color Scavenger Hunt
- Perfect Beach Scavenger Hunt
- Winter Photo Challenge
- Spring Nature Table
- Summer Nature Table
Nature studies are also a great way to help your preschoolers learn about the weather in different seasons. In this way, kids can experience lots of different types of weather and learn more about their own local climate in a hands-on way that’s engaging and fun for your preschoolers.
Check out an easy and gorgeous winter sensory bin, or try a more nature inspired winter sensory bin here.
Completing photo challenges with kids while you’re out exploring nature or giving them a small bag to collect natural “treasures” in can help kids to be more observant. Plus, it’s a great opportunity to extend the lesson by teaching about all the things they’re noticing outside.
Fallen leaves could spark a lesson about wind, mushrooms or muddy puddles could ignite curiosity about rain. You just never know!
Weather Lesson Plans and Activities
For those days when you can’t get outdoors, try a nature table near the window. Setting up nature tables with hands-on elements, sensory experiences, nature sounds, and books is a fantastic way to help kids explore nature even when you’re stuck inside. Plus, it can be a really fun way to learn about habitats that aren’t nearby.
You can set up nature tables to explore the weather too.
There’s lots of fun to be had with a nature table all about clouds, rainbowshttps://www.naturalbeachliving.com/rainbow-slime/, or wind. The possibilities are endless!
Preschool Books about Weather
Here are some really great books to share with your kids all about the different weather we see throughout the year while you’re out exploring nature together:
- The Berenstain Bears’ Big Book of Science and Nature by Jan and Stan Berenstain
- The Year At Maple Hill Farm by Alice and Martin Provensen
- Nature Anatomy: The Curious Parts and Pieces of the Natural World by Julia Rothman
Weather Activities for Kids
How will you explore the weather with your preschoolers this year? I hope I’ve given you some great ideas and resources to use with your weather preschool theme at home or in the classroom.
Aren’t these weather activities for preschool and kindergarten fun and exciting?! We still continue to do some of them in elementary and beyond.
Share your favorite weather themed activities and books in the comments. I can’t wait to try some of your favorites with my kids too!
Tornado Experiment – Fun Weather Science
