WINDY DAY DISCOVERIES
Wind

WIND CHIMES

  • Hang a wind chime outside.
  • Sit inside with your child. 
  • Close your eyes and listen to the sound the wind chime makes.
  • Can you tell by listening to the chimes if the wind is blowing gently or wildly?
  • Encourage your child to listen for the wind chimes to tell her when it is windy outside?

FLY A KITE

  • Buy a simple, inexpensive kite to take to a large, windy area.
  • Help your child put the kite in the air. 
  • Talk about the pull of the wind on the kite. 
  • What happens to the kite when the wind dies down a little?
  • How long can she keep the kite in the air?

 
FLY A PAPER PLANE

Paper airplanes are a fun way to help your child to begin to understand gravity and air currents.

  • Show your preschooler how to make a simple paper airplane.  (Easy directions can be found on-line.)
  • Let your child decorate his plane if he wishes.
  • Add a paper clip to the nose of his plane.
  • Have him practice throwing his plane inside and outside.
  • How far did it fly?  Did it fly better indoors or outside?

BOTTLE BALLOON

  • Collect a glass bottle and a small balloon.
  • Blow up and deflate the balloon several times to make it easier to inflate.
  • Put the deflated balloon over the top of the glass bottle.
  • While your children watch, place the bottle in a deep pan of hot water.
  • What happens to the balloon?  (It starts to fill with air because the hot water in the pan warmed up the air in the bottle, and warm air rises.)
  • Then place the bottle in cold water.  What happens?  (The balloon deflates because the air is now cold and sinking.)

Additional Wind Activities can be found at the Theme Station – Spring Themes – Wind.