Weather Experiments

This month we had the opportunity to get together with friends and do some fun science experiments that were weather related. The kids had tons of fun....everything is more fun with friends! The first one was all about clouds. The kids learned about Cirrus, Cumulus and Stratus clouds and even got to make 'clouds' in a bottle!

First, we put all the right ingredients to make a cloud in the bottle. You can't see it in the picture, but when we would change the air pressure by squeezing the bottle and then let go, a little puff of white cloud would appear. It was really neat! :)

Later we made a cloud mobile with examples of the three kinds of clouds we learned about that day.

Here, our finished mobile found a home!

The second time we got together for a weather experiment I didn't get any pictures because our experiments were all in the dark! We learned about lightening; how it was discovered, how hot it is, the different kinds and much more. Then we set out to create some electric charge of our own. We found that after a balloon is rubbed on your hair, if you touch it to the end of a lightbulb, it will create a little blue spark (best seen in the dark). It was very exciting! :) The other thing we did that I didn't know was possible, was make a spark in our mouths with a peppermint lifesaver! We watched in the mirror of the dark bathroom as we chomped our mints with our mouths open and it really did spark, so cool! :)
We plan to do more weather experiments with friends next month too, so there will be more to come!