C is for Cloud Lesson Plan

Below are some "C is for Cloud" themed activities I did with my two boys, ages 5 and 3! Happy Learning!

Books

Below are two picture books to read and enjoy as you study clouds:

• It Looked Like Spilt Milkby Charles G. Shaw is a book that embraces the delight of looking at the clouds and imagining all the different things that the clouds look like. 
•  Shapes in the Sky: A Book About Clouds  by Josepha Sherman is a good nonfiction book about clouds that gives factual information in an easy to understand way. It was short and simple enough for my preschoolers to listen to while at the same time it reviewed the definition of clouds and what the different types of clouds are.

Learning the Letter

For a sensory and language activity in one, practice writing the letter C or short words that include the letter c in shaving cream "clouds" that you squirt on a cookie sheet. My younger child loved this. Or, if your kids are a bit more squeamish about touching the shaving cream (as my older son is), you could put the shaving cream in a plastic bag and let them draw the letters and words that way.

Math Activity

Play a counting game with a felt cloud, umbrellas,and raindrops. I had made this game previously for our U is for Umbrella unit we had done another year and we pulled it out again when we studied clouds. I gave each child an umbrella and put a white felt cloud with raindrops on it in the center. I clapped my hands (like thunder) and they listened to see how many times I clapped. They chose the corresponding number of raindrops from the cloud and put them on their umbrellas. We repeated several times and then they each took turns doing the thunder while I played along.

Science: Cloud Study
Learn what clouds are and learn about the three main types of clouds: cumulus, stratus, and cirrus. (You can go into more depth than this with older kids, but with preschoolers, we just kept it simple with those three). While learning, you could try a couple very simple hands-on activities that we did.

• We talked about how clouds are formed from moisture in the air. I had my children blow onto a glass window to see the clouds that their breath made.
• We used straws to blow cotton balls around, just as the wind blows clouds through the sky. You can also use these same cotton balls to model different types of clouds. A regular cotton ball can represent a cumulus cloud. Stretch it out and flatten it to become a stratus cloud. Make it even thinner--as wispy as you can--to make a cirrus cloud.
• We demonstrated how rain comes from clouds. First, we filled a sponge "cloud" with water and showed how when the sponge got full it could no longer hold all the water, so it needed to "rain." We also demonstrated rain using a shaving cream "cloud" floating on water and food coloring as the rain as in this demonstration here.

Craft

For a craft, give the children blue construction paper. Have them create clouds by using sponges and paints to paint on white, grey, and pink clouds. Or you could have the kids glue on cotton ball clouds. You could add a cute little rhyme below as in this lesson, or you could just have the kids draw whatever scene they want below the clouds. My oldest always has to incorporate trains or cowboys into his projects, so he drew a Western scene underneath his clouds--but sadly I forgot to get a picture of his artwork. Below is my 3-year-old with his sponge painting--very simple but fun nonetheless!

Snack Time

Make blue Jell-O in clear plastic cups. Squirt whipped cream "clouds" on top.

If you are connecting your study of clouds to a discussion about rain, you could also have a cheese "umbrella" (I used a straw for the handle), with blueberry "raindrops."

Field Trip
Go on a walk and identify the types of clouds you see in the sky around you. Reinforce what you have learned throughout the week by looking at the sky every day and noticing the different types of clouds you see.

For Further Exploration
When we studied clouds, we also talked about rain and repeated some of the U is for Umbrella books and activities that I previously shared. Go check out those activities and see if they might fit into your cloud study as well!

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