I LOVE doing science experiments with my preschoolers. But as much as I love it…they love it even more!
One of my all-time favorite experiments to do with both my preschool 3-4’s and my PreK is what I like to call “Storm Clouds in a Jar”. We do this experiment during our weather and seasons unit. I read a few books about rain and briefly describe the water cycle and how clouds get so full of water that they need to let it go as rain. The darker the cloud, the more saturated it is with water.
The kids get so excited when I tell them that they will be making their own storm cloud and rain in a jar…they are a little bit confused as well. So…I show them what we will be doing! I have everything I need set up to do a whole group demonstration.
A mason jar
shaving cream
water
blue food color or blue liquid water color
pipettes or other droppers.
I fill the jar about 2/3 full with water. Then I make a ‘cloud’
of shaving cream that will float on top of the water.
Then I take the blue water and pipette and start to squeeze
droppers of blue water onto the cloud. Soon the cloud becomes saturated enough for the blue water to drip down
like rain. The “OOOH”s and “AAAh”‘s are so great!
At that point the kids cannot wait to get started and they
all want to come to my center first!
