Clouds are beautiful, fluffy, and incredible to observe. Any time of day you can look to the sky and discover their changing majesty. They have some pretty unique qualities and they make for a perfect Simple Cloud Unit Study!
They are one of the perfect lures to get your kids outdoors too! Lay on the ground and look up to see what shapes and pictures you can find up there.
WHAT TO STUDY ABOUT CLOUDS
There are many topics of study on Daily Weather in general. For this simple unit study, I have pulled together resources that are mostly specific to the formation of Clouds!
Related post: Simple Study of Daily Weather
No matter where you live, you’ve got clouds. The difference between climate and weather is a perfect place to start when you introduce clouds study to your kids. Then looking at different types of clouds is where the fun comes in!
TYPES OF CLOUDS
Below is a great graphic to identify the Common Types of Clouds. You can find a simple explanation of these types of clouds here.
As you look at this graphic, I bet you can identify each of them. Now you are ready to point them out as you are looking with your kids in the sky.
CLOUD BOOKS
The Cloud Book by Tomie de Paola
Clouds by Anne Rockwell
Stories that include kids in Clouds and overcoming fears can add to the study. Fear of storms or just BIG feelings in general, are often “stormy.” Some of the below books might help your child if they experience these feelings.
CLOUD PRINTABLES
When doing a unit study on clouds, you will want to spend time observing all kinds of clouds in the yard, in the car, in the morning, and at night.
You can track what you see by using my cute FREE printable
- Scijinks.com has a great Types of Clouds printable for coloring or just using as a reference.
- Another Types of Clouds printable can be found at kidadl.com.
- Super simple Cloud coloring pages here that you can color or cut out.
These will help you to give your kids some great representations of the types of clouds they are looking for in the sky.
HANDS-ON ACTIVITIES
There are lots of options for hands-on activities in a Clouds Unit Study. Below I have listed a few that we have done and enjoyed so much we repeat them.
COTTONBALL CLOUDS
Grab your cotton balls! These fluffy fun puffs are the perfect element to almost any Cloud Study activity.
This activity below looks at three of the most common types of clouds first learned by kids: Cirrus, Stratus, and Cumulous.
Supplies:
On your sky blue construction paper, glue cotton balls that depict the different types of clouds. Glue them onto the paper at the levels in which you would see them in the sky.
Cirrus – top, whispy, and high in the sky
Stratus – thick, dark, lower-level clouds
Cumulous – scattered puffs, found at most levels and going up vertically.
Paint your stratus clouds (middle) with gray paint to indicate the storm clouds.
CLOUD SPOTTER
As you look outside, you can use this fun “Cloud Spotter” craft to help your kids identify the types of clouds.
CLOUD IN A JAR
This fun and popular hands-on science activity will have your kids in awe! Create a simple Cloud In a Jar.
Supplies:
- Warm water
- Jar with a lid
- Ice cubes
- Aerosol hairspray
Pour warm water (not boiling) into the jar and swirl it around to warm the inside of the whole jar. Turn the lid upside down and place several ice cubes on top of it. Place the lid onto the jar. Quickly remove the lid and give a quick spray of aerosol hairspray. Replace the lid.
Remove the lid and watch the cloud escape!
How did the clouds form?
Three things are needed to make a cloud. Warm, moist air, a cooling process, and cloud condensation nucleus or something to start the cloud – like a dust particle!
By pouring warm water into a jar and trapping it, you create the first step which is warm, moist air. This warm air rises and meets with the cool air at the top of the jar which is made by the ice cubes.
The aerosol hairspray used above provides the cloud condensation nuclei. As the water vapor in the jar begins to cool down, it forms around the hairspray nuclei into lots of droplets. When you remove the lid, the swirling cloud is released!
Create Cloud People
This is a super fun activity that you can do with your kids! You can use those cotton balls to create people, animals, or other objects that you’ve seen in the sky
ONLINE RESOURCES
Websites
Check out these websites and let your kids see and discover all of the incredible ways about birds.
- The National Weather Service has a Cloud Chart that you and your kids can use to see the weather patterns in your zip code.
- There is also an interactive Cloud Chart that NWS has.
- NASA has a Sky Watcher Cloud Chart that has great graphics and is available for free download and printing.
- Weather Radar has a Cloud Cover Map that shows where the clouds are today!
YouTube
You can find lots of clips on YouTube about birds and nests.
- What are Clouds Made Of? by SciShow Kids is fun and informative
- 3 Kids of Clouds Song by Science Songs helps kids learn with music.
- Types of Clouds by The Dr. Bionics Show is a great learning video.
- Below is a great SciJinks clip explaining the different types of clouds.
Movies
If you are looking for a clouds movie, “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs” is a fun one for kids. Not completely about clouds, but it does help budding scientists learn to never give up on their experiments.
Finally, my kids absolutely LOVE when I add to any specific study with extra decor for the ambiance. You can get some cute cloud decor, balloons, and table settings to add to the fun of your study.
I really hope you are inspired to get out and look up!
Enjoy this simple study of Clouds with your kids and leave me a comment on how it went.
Best,
If you want to see why I prefer a simple Unit Study plan you can check out this post.
To get started, grab my Simple Unit Study Plan FREE printable. This is the outline that I have used to create this Birds & Nests Unit Study.
CHECK OUT OTHER THE UNIT STUDIES
Wiggly Worms Unit Study
Weather Unit Study
Ocean Shore Unit Study
Butterfly Unit Study
Bird & Nests Unit Study
Snow Science Unit Study
Clouds Unit Study
Changing Leaves Unit Study