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Spring time is finally here! As the snow melts and the flowers begin to bloom, your little ones will likely be eager to explore the seasonal changes happening around them.
This fun DIY Rain Gauge Craft is a great seasonal activity for the next rainy day (or days!). It’s a great activity for you and your children to try out the next time it’s raining! This simple craft is an opportunity to get creative while learning about weather, measurement, and number recognition.
What is a Rain Gauge?
A rain gauge is a meteorological instrument that is used to measure rainfall over a specific time and area.
The next time you check the weather and see rain in the forecast, you can share the weatherman’s prediction with your children… And check to see how accurate it is for the space you live in! Creating your own rain gauge teaches children how rain is measured, which is something they may be curious about as they begin to understand weather systems and reports.
Materials
Not much is required for this quick craft-ivity! All you need is:
- An empty plastic bottle
- A sharpie
- An Exacto knife (for adult helpers)
- A ruler
- Optional: Water-proof paint to decorate your creation
Steps
This is a pretty quick craft! If you would like to extend the time your children spend making their DIY rain gauge, I would suggest letting them decorate the outside of the bottle.
All you need to do is:
- Parents Only: Cut the top off of a water bottle
- Flip the cut-off piece upside down and place it inside the bottle (this will help funnel the rain)
- Place some rocks in the bottom of your container to weigh it down and keep it from tipping over in the wind.
- Cover the rocks with water to “calibrate” your rain gauge and create a flat, base level
- This step is important so that your measurement starts at an even level, rather than filling up around the rocks naturally. Accurate measuring is an important skill!
- Using a sharpie and a ruler, mark out lines every centimeter starting at 0 (where you filled the water to in step 3)
- This is a great time to sneak in some math talk! Your toddler can practice identifying numbers and can hold the ruler to help measure
- You may also talk about why you are starting at 0 and not 1
- Find a spot to place your craft outside where your bottle won’t fall and begin measuring!
There you have it! A simple 5 step craft for spring. Be sure to check on your bottle throughout the day and watch it as it fills up!
Extending Learning
Here are some ways that you can extend this quick craft, whether you need to make it more challenging or you want to prolong the fun.
Talk About Why Rain Gauges Are Important
Ask your children why we need to measure the amount of rain that falls from the sky. Here are some topics you could explore with them that show why rain gauges are important:
- Tracking weather day to day and year to year
- Effective weather monitoring helps us predict what kind of weather patterns to expect each year and alerts us to changes in the world around us
- Farmers rely on weather a lot
- Many of the foods we eat are grown in the spring, summer, and fall. It is important for farmers to know how much it will rain so they can water their crops accurately. This helps them grow and prevents them from drying out or being over-watered!
- Predicting the weather helps us plan in case of floods or droughts
Create a Weather Tracking Graph
If there’s lots of rain in the forecast this week, you and your children can create a graph to track how much rain falls each day. Check on the rain gauge each day, write down how many centimetres of rain fell, and empty it out for the next day!
From here you can talk about which days had the most rain, the least, or maybe which time of day they noticed it raining the most.
Brainstorm Ways to Save Water
So you’ve collected water, now what? Have a conversation about why people might use big containers to collect water and what they might use water for.
Perhaps you have plants or a garden that needs watering? Maybe you have some veggies to clean before bringing them in to eat? See what else your littles can think of!
Resources:
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