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Free Butterfly Life Cycle Activities

Explore how butterflies change and grow when you download these FREE butterfly life cycle activities for preschool, kindergarten, and first grade!

⎯ Science and Social Studies ⎯

All About Rain and The Water Cycle

Hi, friends!  You’ll never believe that we are still getting snow over here…. in April!  I know!  Crazy, right?!  I’m dying for some springtime weather, but that isn’t keeping my kiddos from learning all about rain and the water cycle!  We just love this water cycle experiment for little learners!

 

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When we begin our rain unit, I always like to discuss the water cycle with the kiddos.  First, we read the story Splish! Splash! by Josepha Sherman.

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WATER CYCLE ANCHOR CHART

As we were reading, we created an anchor chart of the water cycle.

Teach your kindergarten students all about rain and clouds using this water cycle experiment for kids! Perfect for a rainy day this spring, or as a complement to your weather activities! Follow these super simple steps using just water and ice!

WATER CYCLE EXPERIMENT

To complete the water cycle experiment, I gathered the necessary supplies.  You might also want another container for the hot water.

Teach your kindergarten students all about rain and clouds using this water cycle experiment for kids! Perfect for a rainy day this spring, or as a complement to your weather activities! Follow these super simple steps using just water and ice!

First, I heated up some water on the stove.  If you don’t have access to a stove at school, you could always heat the water on an electric burner or in the microwave.  As the water was heating, we discussed how the stove represented the sun and how the water represented the lake, ocean, river, etc.  Once the water was boiling, we could see steam.  We discussed how the warm stove (i.e. sun) was causing the water to evaporate.

Teach your kindergarten students all about rain and clouds using this water cycle experiment for kids! Perfect for a rainy day this spring, or as a complement to your weather activities! Follow these super simple steps using just water and ice!

Next, we dumped the ice into a large, circular container.  I chose to use a metal cake pan, but you could also use a large plate or even pie dish.  The ice represents the clouds, or cold air way up in the sky.

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Teach your kindergarten students all about rain and clouds using this water cycle experiment for kids! Perfect for a rainy day this spring, or as a complement to your weather activities! Follow these super simple steps using just water and ice!

Then, we placed the cold clouds on top of the evaporating water.

Teach your kindergarten students all about rain and clouds using this water cycle experiment for kids! Perfect for a rainy day this spring, or as a complement to your weather activities! Follow these super simple steps using just water and ice!

We waited for the evaporated water to begin to cool back down and condense, causing droplets to form.

Teach your kindergarten students all about rain and clouds using this water cycle experiment for kids! Perfect for a rainy day this spring, or as a complement to your weather activities! Follow these super simple steps using just water and ice!

If we watched closely, we could see the evaporated water traveling up to the sky and condensing.  As the drops became larger, they fell down as precipitation, or rain.

Teach your kindergarten students all about rain and clouds using this water cycle experiment for kids! Perfect for a rainy day this spring, or as a complement to your weather activities! Follow these super simple steps using just water and ice!

This experiment can also be completed using a jar of hot water.  Simply heat the water, either on the stove or in the microwave; but make sure your glass jar is warm enough to withstand the hot water if you are pouring it into the jar.  Place the tray of ice on top of the jar and wait for the evaporated water to condense on the bottom of the tray.

Teach your kindergarten students all about rain and clouds using this water cycle experiment for kids! Perfect for a rainy day this spring, or as a complement to your weather activities! Follow these super simple steps using just water and ice!

 

WATER CYCLE ACTIVITIES

Once we finished our experiment, we labeled the steps in the water cycle.

Teach your kindergarten students all about rain and clouds using this water cycle experiment for kids! Perfect for a rainy day this spring, or as a complement to your weather activities! Follow these super simple steps using just water and ice!

We even read our very own booklet all about the water cycle!

Teach your kindergarten students all about rain and clouds using this water cycle experiment for kids! Perfect for a rainy day this spring, or as a complement to your weather activities! Follow these super simple steps using just water and ice!

Now, my kiddos are experts on the water cycle!

DON’T FORGET IT… PIN IT!

Teach your kindergarten students all about rain and clouds using this water cycle experiment for kids! Perfect for a rainy day this spring, or as a complement to your weather activities! Follow these super simple steps using just water and ice!

MORE RAIN ACTIVITIES

We will be finishing up our nonfiction studies with the books Down Comes the RainThe Rainy Day and The Little Raindrop.

Down Comes the Rain
$6.99
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03/12/2024 06:53 pm GMT
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Rainy Day
$17.00
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03/07/2024 11:03 am GMT
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The Little Raindrop
$16.95
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03/07/2024 12:19 pm GMT

Later this week, the kiddos will be completing this “Rainy Facts” mobile and their “All About Rain” books.

Learn all about rain this spring with over 35 rain activities for kids, including a rain experiment, water cycle experiment, weather crafts, Itsy Bitsy Spider activities, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs craft and lessons, and so many more weather activities perfect for a rainy day!

Learn all about rain this spring with over 35 rain activities for kids, including a rain experiment, water cycle experiment, weather crafts, Itsy Bitsy Spider activities, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs craft and lessons, and so many more weather activities perfect for a rainy day!

Learn all about rain this spring with over 35 rain activities for kids, including a rain experiment, water cycle experiment, weather crafts, Itsy Bitsy Spider activities, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs craft and lessons, and so many more weather activities perfect for a rainy day!

Plus, we still have a few more vocabulary words to learn and add to the kiddos’ “My Rain Dictionary.”

Learn all about rain this spring with over 35 rain activities for kids, including a rain experiment, water cycle experiment, weather crafts, Itsy Bitsy Spider activities, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs craft and lessons, and so many more weather activities perfect for a rainy day!

Learn all about rain this spring with over 35 rain activities for kids, including a rain experiment, water cycle experiment, weather crafts, Itsy Bitsy Spider activities, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs craft and lessons, and so many more weather activities perfect for a rainy day!

We will even be further extending our learning with some of my favorite fiction stories about rain.

The Itsy Bitsy Spider (Iza Trapani’s Extended Nursery Rhymes)
$8.99
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03/07/2024 12:14 pm GMT
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Storm Is Coming!
$8.68
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03/08/2024 08:32 am GMT
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Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs
$7.19
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03/07/2024 09:28 am GMT
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You can read all about these activities and many more rain activities for kids here!

If you’re looking for a fun poem about rain, head over to my post about “Poetry Activities for the Primary Classroom.”

Plus, you can read all about our “Rain Jar Experiment” here.

Ashley Sharp Pos Bio Image

Ashley Sharp

As a dedicated Kindergarten teacher for nearly 20 years, I believe the words “fun, play, and creativity” can sit right alongside the words “developmentally appropriate, engaging, and rigorous.” Learning is meant to be fun and messy!

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5 responses to “All About Rain and The Water Cycle”

  1. Butterfly Life Cycle Freebie – One Sharp Bunch

    […] you’re looking for more springtime science fun, don’t forget to check out this post all about the water cycle or this post all about our Rain Jar […]

  2. Lessons from Joseph Smiths Youth

    […] All About Rain and the Water Cycle Experiments – One Sharp Bunch […]

  3. The Learn + Live Letter Level 2: Weather + Clouds Unit

    […] Activity 2: Now, let’s bring the water cycle to life with this simple experiment. […]

  4. Gwen Avatar
    Gwen

    WOW!! You are so talented and gifted. I enjoyed the items you had.

  5. Paula Avatar
    Paula

    How do I get this? There is nowhere to either purchase or download?