Weather School / First Weather · ages 2 to 5
Storms and Thunder
Where does thunder come from?
The mission: guess first, then go look
Guess which comes first in a storm: the flash you see or the boom you hear.
From safely indoors, watch a storm and check. The sky answers every time, and it always gives the same answer.
Lightning is a huge spark jumping through the sky.
It heats the air so fast that the air booms. That boom is thunder.
You see the flash first, because light travels faster than sound.
Professor Weather Rock says
Light travels faster than sound, so you always see the flash before you hear the boom. Always.
Rocktivity Time!
Pick a door. Every door is a good one.
Move like the weather
Stomp like thunder. Start with tiny fingertip taps for a far-away rumble, build to big stomps, then one best whole-body BOOM. Now let the storm roll away: quieter, quieter, gone.
Ask them
“Did you see the light before you heard the sound?”
The Rocktivity
Count slowly after a flash. Every five counts means the lightning was about a mile away. Fewer counts means it is closer.
When a storm is on the way, try this
Before the rain starts, step out and sniff the air, then feel the wind. Guess how long until the first drop. Storms send messengers ahead of them, and a cool gusty breeze is the sky clearing its throat.
Is the rock right?
You looked with your own eyes. The rock is outside looking too. Ask it what it sees, then decide together who read the sky better.
Words we learned
For the grown-up
Storms frighten small children. Naming thunder as only a sound, and giving them a counting job, converts fear into curiosity. When thunder roars, go indoors: that rule never bends.
Rocktivity
Take it off the screen
A colouring sheet with the big word to trace, plus the whole lesson in print. Free for any home or classroom.
The trail continues
When the storm has moved on and a grown-up says the sky is done, go see what it left behind. Storms never take their water home.
Puddles tells you where all that water goes next.