I am a little (okay, a LOT) late at posting pictures from our Weather Camp last summer. We had a fun-filled 5 days of wacky, wild, and wonderful weather! Here are some things we did each day and the pictures to go with it.
Day #1 - Spring. On this day we learned all about precipitation and the water cycle. We made an umbrella craft, made rainbows with prisms, measured water with rain gauges, and played in the play house weather station. We did a fun experiment where we made a cloud in a jar, and finished off the day by making posters of the water cycle.
Day #2 - Summer. On this day, we learned about the sun, heat, and thunderstorms. We measured with thermometers, experimented with magnets, painted sun catchers, and played in the playhouse weather station during center time. During our project work time, we split into two groups. One group focused on static electricity and what it has to do with the creation of thunderstorms. The other group made sundials and experimented with melting chocolate candies in the sun's heat. We found that the candies placed on black paper melted faster than the candies placed on white paper.
Day #3 - Wild Weather Wednesday! Most of the kids would agree that Wednesday was the best day of weather camp. We started off the day by listening to our guest speaker, Brian
McInerney, from the National Weather Service in Salt Lake City. He brought a slide show for the kids to see that included all sorts of interesting facts and figures about weather. After we returned to our "backyard school", we did a fun project where the kids worked in groups to build a model of a house. I told the kids that there was some wild weather coming and they had to make their house disaster proof. It was fun to seem them collaborate and work together. The "disaster" that came was a hurricane (hair dryer). Most of their house withstood the wind quite well.
Day #4 - Fall. Today the wind was a blowin'! We learned a lot about the wind and how it affects and changes weather. We made wind socks at the art center, wrote Cloudy with a Chance of Meatball stories at the writing center, took surveys of our favorite weather, and did more experiments with static electricity. We learned about how hurricanes form and made a human hurricane. We also made an anemometer and learned about wind speed.
Day #5 - Winter. Our last day of camp was winter day! We experimented with ice, painted pictures with "snow paint", made snowflakes out of blocks, and even made homemade ice cream for snack. We read the book "Snowflake Bentley" and learned a little bit about snowflakes and how they form. It was also our culminating day and we had fun teaching our parents all about weather. The kids were also excited to take home their own "weather station" kit. What an awesome week! Thank you, parents, for all your support!
