Weather

The weather is something that is always the topic of conversations and consideration. It is also something that is always changing and unpredictable in Scotland, so something really interesting. Each day we looked at different weather states. It was such a good theme for allowing us to delve into science experiments. It is also another theme that is popular in nurseries and infant years in primary schools. Underneath I have added my planning mind map and have explained the activities we carried out.

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Weather Chart – resources: plain paper, pens, scissors, Blutac, something round to draw around.

As an introduction to our weather themed week, I made Robbie a weather chart so we could talk about and note the weather each day. I used a large bowl to draw a circle on a plain piece of paper, then a smaller bowl for a smaller circle in the middle. I then split the circle into 6 sections, drew and coloured an image for each weather condition and made a little arrow we could use to point at the day’s weather. Every morning we would look out the window and talk about what weather we could see, then move our arrow to show this.

Rain

Sensory Messy Play – resources: bowls, water, pasta, rice, metal/plastic containers, assorted utensils.

We explored the sound of rain during this activity by using different utensils and our hands to pour the pasta, rice and water into different containers. We talked about what the different materials sounded like and how they felt on our hands.

Water Painting – resources: bowl/bucket filled with water, assorted brushes and sponges.

Robbie loves playing with water, especially tipping it out and splashing in it, so this activity was a great hit. We filled a bowl with warm water and gave him different paintbrushes and sponges. Robbie then had great fun painting the walls, ground, door etc. He really enjoyed watching the water disappear as it evaporated.

Raindrop Colour and Count – resources: plain paper, pens, crayons.

I drew a raincloud with raindrops on a piece of plain paper, Robbie counted how many raindrops there were and we wrote the number down together. Robbie then coloured in the picture with his crayons and felt pens.

Raincloud Finger-painting Picture – resources: plain paper, pen, blue paint.

Finger-painting is one of our favourite things to do. Robbie loves painting as long as you can get as messy as possible. For this picture, I drew a cloud and puddle on a piece of plain paper and gave Robbie some blue paint. He had great fun and we talked bout what the paint felt like on his hands.

Snow

Cottonwool Ball Snowman picture – resources: plain paper, pens, cotton wool balls, glue.

To make our snowman picture I drew three circles on a piece of plain paper using a coaster, mug and glass to draw around. I then drew the hat and we coloured it in and drew on the snowman’s eyes, nose, mouth and arms. I then covered one section of the snowman’s body with glue and Robbie stuck on some cotton wool balls.

Robbie really liked pulling the cotton wool balls apart so we incorporated this into the picture by adding snow on the ground and falling from the clouds.

Fake Snow: resources: 4 ounces of cornflour + 1/4 cup of body lotion, bowl and spoon for mixing, tray, lego men or toy figures.

Playing with fake snow was great fun. We mixed our cornflour and baby body lotion in a large bowl until completely combined and resembling breadcrumbs then tipped it out onto a baking tray and brought out Robbie’s toy animals for imaginative play.

We used baby body lotion which was pink and made the “snow” pink but you could equally use any body lotion and/or add food colouring if you wanted different colours.

Moon Sand: resources: plain flour, oil, bowl and spoon for mixing, tray and toy figures for play.

To make the moon sand the instructions we had said to use 8 cups of plain flour to 1 cup of oil which would have made more snow than we could have used. We instead mixed 2 cups of flour to 1/4 cup of oil and it gave us plenty of “sand” to play with. We used baby oil as we had a lot of it lying around in the house and it gave the “sand” a nice smell, but you could easily use vegetable oil and it would be edible (not pleasant, but safe).

Shaving Foam Messy Play: resources: tray, toy figures, shaving foam, bowls with warm water.

We sprayed shaving foam onto a large tray. Robbie then used his cars, cups and spade to play with it. Naturally, everything gets covered in foam so we also had some bowls of water on hand for washing our hands and the toys.

We explored the different tracks cars make in the foam and on the slabs too.

Sun

Sun Handprint picture: resources: plain paper, yellow paint, pens.

Here is another excuse to paint our hands! We painted Robbie’s hands and stamped them onto the paper in a circle with his fingers pointing outwards to create a sun picture.

Sun Messy Play: resources: dyed rice/past, dry pasta, bowls, assorted utensils.

This was a great activity for exploring texture, colour and sound. To dye the rice I put rice in separate bowls and added vinegar and either red food colouring, turmeric powder or a mixture of both and left them to sit for about an hour. I then dried them on some kitchen paper in the oven at a very low temperature. To make the dyed pasta I boiled different types of past in water with turmeric powder, drained and dried it in the oven at low heat.

While we were playing we talked about the different colours, textures and shapes we could see and feel. We talked about the sun, what it was made of and looked like.

Multimedia Sun Picture: resources: dried / dyed pasta and rice, plain paper, glue, pens.

I love this picture and think it worked really well. We used the messy play resources we had made earlier and stuck them onto some paper that I had drawn a sun shape onto. We used a glue stick initially, then sprayed some spray glue and hair spray over the top once it was completed to help the pasta/rice stick to the paper.

Planting Sunflowers: resources: flower pot, soil, sunflower seeds.

We were given a sunflower growing kit before lockdown (2020) so this was a perfect opportunity to use this during our weather theme. It is a straightforward process without a kit though too. We put some cardboard at the bottom of our pot to prevent the soil from falling out, then filled our pot with soil to about 3/4 full. We then sprinkled the seeds over the top of the soil and scattered some more soil to cover them and watered them. We placed them somewhere inside that they would get warmth and light from the sun and watered them every two days. Once the stems started to appear through the soil we popped them out into the garden and continued to water them if it hadn’t rained.

Our flowers struggled a little with the unpredictable weather we have and flowered a little, but it may have been better to keep them inside until they had flowered.

Rainbows

Handprint, Celery Stamping Rainbow Fish: resources: plain paper, paint, celery, pens.

Robbie really enjoyed making his rainbow fish and using celery to stamp its colourful scales. To make the fish shape I drew around my hand with my finger together, apart from my little finger and thumb. Robbie then used pieces of celery stalk dipped in paint to stamp onto the fish.

Sticker Picture: resources: plain paper, colourful stickers.

Robbie loves stickers and takes every chance to use them in his pictures, so we decided to spend some time making a colourful sticker picture. We also used this time to look at the letters in Robbie’s name to help develop his ability to recognise them.

Rainbow Skittle Experiment: resources: a shallow bowl or plate, skittles, warm water.

This is such an easy and effective experiment to do. It is quite quick and there is the added motivation of the sweeties so its always a winner. Robbie was so interested and engaged in it the whole time.

We placed some skittles in a circle on a pasta dish and then added some warm water into the middle of them and watched what happened. We decided to put two skittles of the same colour next to each other as it would show the different colours better.

Magic Rainbow 1: resources, kitchen paper, permanent black pen, coloured felt tip pens.

I took a piece of kitchen roll and folded it in half. I then drew the outline of a rainbow on one side using the permeant pen. Next, I unfolded the kitchen roll and coloured the sections on the underneath part in with the felt tip pens and folded it over again. When we were ready to do the experiment we filled a dish with water and dropped the folded kitchen roll in.

Magic Rainbow 2: resources: kitchen paper, permeant pen, coloured felt pens, shallow dish, water.

This rainbow experiment was great too. I took a piece of kitchen roll and folded it in half. Then drew a line of coloured pens in the rainbow shape onto the kitchen roll and put black permeant pen over the top to hide the colour. We then filled a shallow dish with warm water and dropped the paper in to see what happened.

Growing Rainbow: resources: kitchen roll, felt pens, two glasses, water.

This experiment takes a little bit longer to complete but is great fun. I folded a piece of kitchen roll in half lengthways, then split it into 5 sections of about 2 inches at each end of the paper and coloured these in with felt pens. We then filled two measuring jugs with warm water and placed the very ends of the kitchen paper into the watered and watched the rainbow grow.

Rainbow Pasta Sensory Messy Play: resources: pasta, paint, food colouring, tray, assorted toys and utensils.

To make the rainbow pasta I boiled some pasta then split it between 5 bowls. Into each bowl, I added a little vinegar and some food colouring or paint and left them to sit for an hour or two. We then left them out overnight to dry on some kitchen paper. When we were ready to play we put them onto a baking tray and brought out different utensils and toys for imaginative play.

We talked about the colours and what happened when we mixed them all up.

Cottonwool Rainbow Painting: resources: shallow dish/ tray, cottonwool, assorted paints and brushes.

This was such an easy and fun way to do something different with painting. We ripped up some cotton wool balls and put them into a shallow dish, then put paints into small dishes, each with their own brush. Robbie had great fun painting the cotton wool and loved the crazy end result.

Rainbow Ice-cube Paint: resources: ice-cube tray, water, paint, tray, paper, bowls.

To make the frozen paint I mixed water and a little paint in each section in an ice-cube tray and put them in the freezer for a few hours. When we were ready to use them I pushed them out onto a tray, gave Robbie some paper and bowls of water and let him explore.

We found that they didn’t work very well on the paper but did this activity a second time outside and they painted really well on our slabs. We also experimented with mixing colours through melting them together.

Wind

Blowing Pint Pictures: resources: plain paper, paint, straws.

For this activity, we watered down some of Robbie’s paint and dotted it around a piece of paper. We then used a drinking straw to blow the paint around the paper into the shape or a tree and as a decoration for a windmill we would make later on.

This was great fun, but a little difficult for Robbie.