Simple Preschool Lesson on Weather with Suggested Books
Introduce your students to different types of weather by reading Maisy’s Wonderful Weather Book by Lucy Cousins. They’ll learn about rainy, sunny, windy days and more as Maisy has fun is all kinds of weather. As you read discuss the different types of weather and the clothes and activities that go with them.
After reading the book give groups of two or three children pictures (your own photographs or ones cut from magazines) of people dressed in different types of clothing. Have the groups talk with each other about their pictures and draw pictures of what they think the weather was like in the pictures. Then have the groups share their pictures and drawings and tell why they drew the weather the way they did.
Math
Calendar time is a great time to add some weather activities to your math curriculum. Keep a chart of what the weather is like each day. Place a thermometer in a secure spot outside and check the temperature each day and record it too.
Another fun math activity is to graph what the students are wearing one day. Include who brought coats, hats, umbrellas along with whether they are wearing short or long sleeves and what kind of shoes. Discuss how the weather affected what they wore that day.
Sorting is another fun math activity. Your preschool students can sort pictures of different activities or clothing by the type of weather that goes with each.
Dramatic Play
Bring in clothes and hats for different types of weather for the children to try on. You can also provide a large map, pointers and some weather symbols with tape on the back and let the students pretend to be T.V. meteorologists and predict the weather.
Social Studies and Science
Talk about what meteorologists do. Read books about weather forecasting. Invite a local T.V. weather person to talk to the class about his job. You can also record the weather on the news and let the students watch it.
Bring in the newspaper each day and look at the weather map in the paper. Show the children how to tell where it will rain, snow and be sunny. Save the week’s forecast for your city and compare it with the actual weather each day. Was it correct?
Recommended Reading about Weather for Science and Social Studies
- Oh Say Can You Say What’s the Weather Today?: All About Weather by Tish Rabe
- What’s The Weather? by Scholastic
- Groundhog Weather School by Joan Holub
- What Will the Weather Be? by Lynda Dewitt
- What’s the Weather Today? by Allan Fowler
Your preschool students will love learning about weather with these ideas and activities for a weather thematic unit. You can find more weather ideas for preschool circle time and science centers right here on Bright Hub!
