Wind Activity #1

Here’s a fun activity for the preschool set to learn about the power of wind. 

Materials

baking sheet or large tray
straw
dish of sand, salt or cornmeal (Use what you’ve got!)
dish of water
various objects of different weights (pom poms, feathers, beads, beans, dried pasta…)

 1.  Have children practice blowing out of a straw.  It’s important that they know not to suck in for this activity.  Blow on each other’s skin and see if it tickles.  Point out that we can feel wind, but we can’t see it.  All we can see is how it moves things.

2.  Talk about how some objects are heavy and some are light.  Invite them to make predictions about which objects will be easier or harder to move with the power of wind.

3.  Experiment.  Have them select items to blow across a tray.  Have them place the objects on the far end of the tray and blow them across to the other side. Encourage them to make observations and test their predictions.  Older children can keep a chart, but little ones can just enjoy the process.  Let them experiment for as long as they’d like.

4.  You can team up with two straws and make a race with same objects (ttesting force) or different objects (testing weight).  A strip of masking tape can be used to create a finish line.

5.  Place your sand dish on a tray to contain the mess.  Show children how the wind can blow designs.  This is a great time to introduce pictures of sand dunes and deserts.

6.  Place the water dish on a tray and experiment with making bubbles down below and ripples on top.  This is a great lesson to tie to the ocean or waves.  If possible, visit a large body of water to see it on a grand scale.

Get Literary!

Here’s a classic poem to read about the wind.  It is by one of my favorite children’s poets, Christina Rossetti.  If you haven’t shared her work with your kiddos yet, I encourage you to do so.  Her poems have stood the test of time because they are so wonderful.   Poetry is fantastic for children.  It showcases the musicality of language and the playfulness of words.  Children who are read fiction, nonfiction and poetry will have broader minds, richer vocabularies and better reading habits.

Who Has Seen the Wind