Cloud Watching & Observing Air Movement

In our latest Science at Home hangout, we discussed air experiments and activities that you can do with your kids at home. I shared an easy way to observe air movement in the atmosphere by cloud watching. There was a glare on my props, so I wanted to give you a better idea of what the cloud tracing activity looked like.

Cloud Watching

We can observe the air moving in the atmosphere simply by looking at the clouds. If you’ve ever spent some time outside looking up at the sky, you’ve surely noticed the clouds moving by.

Head outside with your kids and take a moment to look at the clouds. Remind them not to look at the sun {it can hurt their eyes}.

What do they see? Are the clouds moving? Which direction? Are they moving fast or slowly?

Describe the clouds. Are they white and puffy? Are they dark? Are they thin and wispy? Is the whole sky one big cloud? Depending on the age of your kids you could talk to them about the names of the clouds.

You could add some storytelling to your cloud watching. What shape are the clouds? Do you see an animal? What is going on up there? You might want to tell a cloud story first and then ask your child to help fill in the details.

Cloud Tracing

You can also observe the clouds from inside. It’s not as easy to see the whole sky, but you could make it work. Cloud tracing is a fun way to observe and record the movement of the clouds.

Materials:

• Transparency film or clear plastic {like a sheet protector}
• Tape
• Marker

What to Do:

1. Find a window that has a good view of the sky. Make sure there are actually clouds in the sky that are traceable. Puffy white clouds are the easiest to trace and track.
2. Tape a piece of transparency film or clear plastic to your window with a view.
3. Trace the clouds.
4. Wait 5 minutes. {You can set the time. The clouds could move enough to see a difference in as little as a minute.}
5. Return to the exact same spot {or just stay there the whole time}.
6. Take a look at what you traced. Have the clouds moved? Which direction? You can use another color marker to trace the new location of the clouds.

It took us several days to actually do this activity. Every time we checked the sky it was crystal clear – no clouds in sight! The first day we tried it, the clouds were large and looked like they were building up some rain. It was difficult to draw them, but we managed.

Here’s what they looked like after 5 minutes. Do you see how the clouds moved?

We traced the clouds on a different day {when the sun wasn’t in our way} and this is what we saw.

There were fewer clouds on this day. Fewer clouds made tracking and tracing a bit easier.

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