A fun & easy STEM activity for kids! Has your child ever asked you to explain how or why rain falls from the sky? Well, this is a perfect hands-on science experiment to teach kids all about how clouds create rain!
This fun experiment illustrates how rain falls from clouds once the rain inside the cloud becomes too heavy and fall to the ground due to gravity. This hands-on experiment is a fun way to learn about the water cycle and explore how clouds and rain are formed.
Before starting, ask your child: Where does rain come from? Have them create a hypothesis (a educated guess). Let’s begin!!
MATERIALS:
- Glass Vase or Mason Jar
- Food coloring (blue for rain or multi-colors for a rainbow)
- Foam Shaving Cream (not gel)
- Water
- Spoon or pipettes
Directions:
- Add water to vase or mason jar, set aside (3/4 full).
- Mix food coloring (each other separate) with a small amount of water in a bowl. You can use the food coloring only but the full affect works better when mixed with a little of water. You can use Kool-aid too, but its not as thick.
- Create a cloud with the shaving cream by adding the shaving cream on top of the water to create fluffy cloud and allow it to settle for a couple minutes. (TIP: the more shaving cream, the longer the experiment will take) Also, watch your little ones! My little guy tried to eat the shaving cream!
- Now, let’s make it rain! Using a spoon or pipettes, add the food coloring mixture (rain) on top of the shaving cream (cloud).
- Observe what is happening! Water the rain (food coloring) spread throughout the clouds (shaving cream) and after a few minutes it’ll start raining in the water (the air).
This is a fun activity to ask the kids what do they see, verbalize what you see and explain the science behind it:
- A cloud is formed when the droplets combine together.
- It rains when the cloud becomes too heavy and rain droplets fall out due to gravity.
- FUN INFO: Water is everywhere on Earth, it evaporates into the Atmosphere in the form of water vapor. The water vapor rises and then cools causing condensation. Condensation is tiny water droplets. The tiny water droplets come together and form many clouds. Once a cloud is full of the tiny water droplets and becomes too heavy — they fall down to the ground due to gravity. After the precipitation falls to the earth the whole water cycle begins again!
Although your kids might be too young to necessarily retain the fun new words they just learned, its great to expose them to new advanced vocabulary. It’s a powerful effect on their literacy base as they get older. And you’d be surprised on how much they remember the next time it rains!
This is a fun experiment for older kids too! Write down the words so they can see the spelling and try to encourage them to use the words during the experiment!
Definitions
- Precipitation: the release of water from the sky in the form of Rain, Sleet, Hail or Snow
- Atmosphere: a thin layer of gases surrounding our planet
- Evaporation: when liquid changes to gas or vapor
- Water Vapor: water in the form of transparent vapor
- Condensation: when water vapor cools and turns into liquid form of water
- Water Cycle: the process of water moving around from air to land
Hope your little ones enjoy this science experiment as much as mine did! Don’t forget to subscribe blow and never miss a fun activity to do with your kids!
Xo,
Mama Baydoun
Toddler Time 