In southern California, we’re fortunate to have sunshine much of the year. In fact, Los Angeles is sunny on average 284 days of the year. Sometimes it’s cloudy, other days windy, and on rare occasions, we see rain. Teaching children about the weather is fun with this craft, which allows them to learn while being creative. This craft is ideal for children age 3-8 but can be enjoyed by most ages.
This weather wheel features four weather patterns: sunny, cloudy, rain, and snow. Though it almost never snows in Los Angeles County, families living in San Bernardino County or those vacationing in a cooler place may have the opportunity to turn the dial to snow.
Supplies: paper plate, round head fastener, yarn or string, markers, scissors (parents should supervise use of scissors)
Directions
- Use a marker to separate the plate into four sections.
- Label each section with a weather pattern: sunny, cloudy, rain, snow
- Instruct your child to draw (older children can cut out shapes using construction paper) the various examples of each weather pattern, ie. A sun with sunglasses, curvy lines for wind, an umbrella, a snowman
- Push the round head fastener through the center of the plate where the four lines intersect and spread the back two pieces of the fastener.
- Tie a string around the head of the fastener.
- Make a ½ inch small cut on the edge of the plate at the center of each weather section.
Your child can pull the string to the appropriate weather section and press it into the slice to mark the day’s weather. Discuss with your child what they observed and whether the conditions change hour to hour or day by day.
