This FREE Main Types of Clouds Unit will help teach your student how to identify the main types of clouds, how they form, and what they tell us about the weather. In this unit, you will find slideshows, which are online science readers that can be accessed immediately. You will also find graphic organizers, a simple hands-on cloud poster, videos, a cloud field study, and more!
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This is a great hands-on science activity that if used appropriately can reinforce what the 3 main types of clouds look like and what type of weather can be expected from them. The materials list is short: handful of cotton balls, black or gray marker, white glue, printed PDF, and a sheet of construction paper.
Download Cotton Ball Activity Sheet here or click on image.
First, cut out the 3 descriptive columns for each cloud. Now, it is time to start constructing your cloud poster. I like to have my kids lay the descriptive sheets on their paper first and then glue them into place. Next, it is time to create your cotton ball clouds. For the cumulus clouds, you will take 3-5 cotton balls and glue them together in a heap. In the middle will be the stratus clouds. You will pull 2 cotton balls apart spreading them out like a blanket. Use a black or gray marker to darken their appearance. Lastly, for the cirrus clouds, take only a 1/3 or ½ of a cotton ball and pull it apart until it is wispy in appearance. Have fun with it! Happy learning!
This informational chart is a perfect tool to use if your student is writing a compare and contrast piece. This table provides a general overview of the three main types of clouds. Just click on the image to download a free copy.
Check out the Draw & Write Activity Sheet to use with this below!
This Draw & Write Activity Sheet is an effective teaching tool to use with your elementary students. It allows them to practice their sentence structure and ability to describe. I advise you to accompany this sheet with the Clouds chart or the slideshow available above. Just click on the image to download a free copy.
This field study is just fun. It forces you to pay attention to the sky and look at the clues that nature gives us to what the weather will hold. This field study is a booklet that is meant to be used for the course of a week. It takes several days for a student to investigate the sky for them to realize how quickly it changes. After firsthand observation, students are more apt to notice how different clouds can look from one another. It also gives them the opportunity to identify clouds more readily. Download, print, and cut the paper vertically down the middle and staple into place. Have fun!
One of our favorite books to add to this cloud unit study is by Josepha Sherman titled, Shapes in the Sky: A Book About Clouds. It is easy to read and understand and does a thorough job describing each type of cloud.
Educational and kid-friendly. This video is less than 5 minutes, but provides a wealth of information about clouds. I appreciated being able to see the clouds moving visually on-screen. The narrator isn’t the most exciting, but the content is solid. Happy learning!
The Sci Show Kids does a great job at connecting clouds to the Water Cycle and forms of matter. I appreciated her abilities to connect the dots. Enjoy!
The National Weather Service website provides a free download of this cloud poster that features 27 different clouds. It ranks them in terms of altitude and shape. Click here or on the image to download. Check it out! Happy learning
Weather Wiz Kids does a stellar job at providing information about clouds that is useful and interesting. They also provide you with multiple lesson plans and experiments that you can do at home. I have never found a site that covers the amount of information they do about clouds in a kid friendly manner. If you click on the link or the image to the left it will direct you their page. Check it out! Happy learning!
Fun Learning for Kids offers a free downloadable Recording Lab Sheet to accompany a fun hands-on experiment that demonstrates how a cloud will rain. I love this experiment because it is conducive for many ages. My younger children loved watching the older ones set up the experiment. We discussed what we thought would happen and our findings. The Recording lab sheet was accessible to all. Click on the link to find out more about the RAIN CLOUD IN A JAR! Happy learning!
If you are looking for other hands-on science experiments to demonstrate clouds, then this might be the one for you. Gift of Curiosity website explains how to perform two other cloud experiments using relatively easy to come by materials. I appreciate the fact that in this experiment you can actually see the condensation taking place right before your eyes. Condensation is sometimes hard for kids to grasp without a concrete image to connect it to. Give it a try and see what you think! Happy learning!
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