Weather School / First Weather · ages 2 to 5

The weather rock under a partly cloudy sky with sun and clouds sharing the day.

What Is Weather?

What is the sky doing right now, this very minute?

The weather rock outside under a part cloudy sky, waiting to be looked at.

The mission: guess first, then go look

Before anyone peeks: guess. Bright? Grey? Wet? Blowing? Say your guess out loud, nice and proud.

Now go to a window and check. Was your guess right? The sky never minds a wrong guess. It just shows you the answer.

Look outside. Is it bright or grey? Wet or dry? Still or blowing?

That is the weather. It is different today than it was yesterday.

The weather rock sits outside in all of it. That is the whole job.

Professor Weather Rock in a graduation cap, pointing upward with a wooden pointer.

Professor Weather Rock says

The sky is never doing nothing. Even on a still day, air is moving somewhere above your head.

Rocktivity Time!

Pick a door. Every door is a good one.

Move like the weather

Show the sky with your whole body. Arms up in a big warm circle for sunny. Wiggle your fingers down for rain. Sway side to side for wind. Do the one the sky is doing right now.

Ask them

“What do you see up there? Is anything moving?”

The Rocktivity

Say the weather out loud every morning for a week. Sunny. Rainy. Windy. Grey. That is what a forecaster does, only with fewer snacks.

When the weather changes today, try this

Step outside for ten seconds, come back in, and say one word for what your skin noticed. Cold? Wet? Warm? Your skin is your first weather instrument, and it came free.

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

Weathernounsay it: WETH-erWhat the sky is doing right now.

Skynounsay it: SKYThe big space above you, all the way up.

For the grown-up

You are teaching one idea only: weather is a thing that changes, and it can be observed. That is the seed of every science lesson that comes later.

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.

Print the colouring sheet and lesson (PDF)

The trail continues

Tomorrow morning, before anyone opens the door, look at the sky and guess what it wants you to wear. Boots? Sunglasses? Say it out loud, then go check.

When you come back, What Should I Wear? shows you how the sky picks the coat.