Making Weather Charts!

While you probably have a classroom version {i.e. dress Mr. Bear for the weather, "Today the weather is..." interactive chart, etc}, helping your students create a personal weather chart can be educational and quite fun! We found this simple paper plate clip chart at Blissfully Domestic and thought it would be a great fit, especially if you have younger 'weather watchers'.

Supplies You'll Need

• Paper plate
• Construction paper {or card stock} in assorted colors
• Cotton balls
• Elmer's® school glue
• Scissors
• Wooden spring clothespin
• Crayola® Markers
• Paper punch
• Yarn

Amy used die-cut shapes, but if you don't have access to a machine, create card stock templates of a sun, snowflake, umbrella, and arrow for your kiddos to trace onto pieces of construction paper or card stock. You might also consider finding a black and white clip art image to print directly onto the colored paper for students to cut out. Along with these shapes, provide your students with a paper plate, a clothespin, and three cotton balls. Before tackling the plate, have your students glue their arrow cutout to one side of the clothespin and set aside to dry.

Plate in hand, demonstrate how to measure and divide the surface into quarters - using a marker to trace the lines - then invite your students to paste the rest of their colored shapes onto the plate {one per section}. In the last section, have them fluff their cotton balls {pulling them apart ever so slightly} and glue them in a clump to create a cloud. Have them write or use typed sticky labels to label each section. Use the hole punch and yarn to string the crafts up if you desire.

Encourage your students to be 'weather watchers', updating their weather chart when they walk into class in the morning to prepare for the group session. Consider gluing a small graph to the back where students can keep a tally of how many days are sunny, rainy, snowy, or cloudy for future comparison and discussion. At the end of the year, you can even attempt to break the weather trends down by month for a visual representation of the weather in your region.

Weather Charts for Preschoolers