April 1, 2015

Exploring Weather: Storybooks, Activities, and a Cotton Cloud Man Craft

Rain Rain Go Away, Come Again Another Day! Spring always brings the rain. It also brings a lot of different weather! It's only fitting that the Poppins Book Nook theme for March was...Weather! I love learning about weather. My boys love it too. Being farmers, weather is very important to our family and we stay tuned in to the weather all around us.
exploring weather with storybooks

March just ended--but Monday was the beginning of our new year for Poppins Book Nook! We kicked off the year with the theme of Weather. I found some really great books to read with the boys this past month...some old and some new, but all very full of anything weather related! The boys are big weather fanatics and they are more than happy to work on anything relating to meteorology or weather in general.

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Exploring Weather Books

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs
Written by Judi Barrett

Admit it. This is a total go-to book when studying weather because it's just so much fun! If you haven't not made your acquaintance with the history of the town of Chewandswallow, you definitely need to go to the library and snag this book.  The boys loved it--especially Baby Britches as this was his first time hearing it. The pictures are awesome and open up a lot of discussion. When we were done, I had the boys draw a photo of what they would want for their ideal "weather" meal. Little Britches wanted soda rain, hotdog hail, and ketchup and mustard clouds. With french fry lightning. Baby Britches wanted mashed potatoes and gravy clouds and macaroni rain. You can definitely dive  deep into the imagination with this book!

Weather Forecasting
by Gail Gibbons

This is a lovely book we found at the library that teaches all about how weather forecasting works. The pictures take us behind the seasons through the seasons and show the process that goes on when the men and women of the weather teams work to bring us the latest information. With straightforward text and colorful pictures, this behind-the-scenes look at a modern (well, as of the 90's anyway) weather station answers basic questions kids ask most, and makes weather forecasting more fun and accessible than ever. The boys really liked learning about all of this and found the book very informative, but fun. I think it would be a good one to actually have in your personal science library because it was very well done.

A Rainy Day
Written by Sandra Markle

This is a very sweet book that explores what happens when it rains by following a child as they play in the rain. The illustrations are beautiful and the story is sweet, but informative. The boys loved the photos and they liked the little tidbits of information the story gave--especially about worms. They love learning about worms.

A Walk in the Rain
Written by Ursel Scheffler

This is a hard to find book, but our library had it. It is a super sweet book about a little boy who visits his grandma's house. They buy him new rain gear in bright colors and he's eager for the first rain so he can wear it and walk in the rain. One day it does rain, and the book explores the rainy world with him as he adventures out in it with his grandma.

The Weather Sky
By Bruce McMillan

This book is a great and beautiful study of weather patterns and and clouds that appear in the earth's atmosphere. The photos are all real-life and very well done. We like reviewing the different types of clouds in the sky and the levels of atmosphere. I will remember this book for any future weather studies because it was very informative.


In Like a Lion Out Like a Lamb
Written by Marion Dane Bauer

I really loved this sweet book. I have always used this old saying to describe March and it was fun to read a book that follows it. "March comes in with a roar. He rattles your windows and scratches at your door..." In this adjective rich story, March, personified as a lion, enters a boy's cozy home and leaves a trail of snow flurries and muddy footprints. The boy observes the pouncing, howling, growling lion until in comes the lamb on the crest of a huge sneeze. Escorted by grass, flowers, sunshine, showers, and animal babies, the lamb brings forth spring. It was a great book that really showcased the kind of March that we have had here in Kentucky this year! It would be easy to take this book and turn it into a fun craft, but we didn't.

Flash, Crash, Rumble, and Roll
Written by Franklyn M. Branley

This is a great book for your child to read on his or her own about weather, but we chose to read it aloud together. The boys loved the name of this book because they guessed that it was going to be all about storms--their favorite kind of weather. They were right of course. It was a science book which goes through creation of a storm following it as it arrives on an island. There are charts and informative illustrations to teach about things like air pressure and lightning. The pictures are very kid friendly and cute. It is a great one to add to your weather book collection.

Here are few more books that are weather related:


Exploring Weather Activities

I was very excited to see a GREAT weather activity pack from Royal Baloo and it came just in time for our weather study this month--which I'm curious about since Royal Baloo is on our Poppins Book Nook team as well...so maybe it's not THAT much of a coincidence that it arrived this month. bwahahah.

Regardless, I loved that there were more than one level of packs, so that I could use one for my 4 1/2 year old and a different one for my 9 year old. The boys really enjoyed doing the activities from this set--especially Baby Britches as it was full of his favorite things: cutting, pasting, and playing games!

 Here are some photos of the activities we used in the packs:
Reviewing odds and evens
 Little Britches did the math activities and spelling activities from the K-3rd grade packet. He said they were easy, but I still thought they were just a good review.

Baby Britches did many of the activities from the Preschool packet, including finishing the pattern, writing practice and all of the dot letter sheets. We also enjoyed playing the graphing game included in the packet.

Exploring with a Weather Craft


I actually did a craft for this month! I was inspired by a darling little cloud man that Falling Into First created as part of her weather packet. I couldn't get the directions without buying the activity pack (which I didn't need), so I decided to make my own version.

Cotton Cloud Man Craft

Here are some photos of the making of Cotton Cloud Man by the boys...

The supplies needed
Goofy boy...always a ham for the camera
Hard at work on his cloud feet

Tearing up the cotton for the cloud base

These boys would NOT take a good photo. Baby Britches wanted his cloud man to dance...

Little Britches chose to forgo the cotton covered base and decided he needed a cotton beard instead.

Kid’s Meteorologist in the Making Bundle Giveaway!

Every month the Poppins Book Nook group will be offering readers a chance to win a brand new storybook or product that ties in with our theme for the month. This month one lucky entrant will win the Kid’s Meteorologist In The Making Bundle.

The winner will enjoy two fun weather themed learning items. The two items that they will win is the Weather Tracker and National Geographic’s Kid’s Everything Weather.  These two wondrous weather items can bring your children a fun weather activity or two.

Entrants must be 18 years or older and reside in a country that receives U.S. Postal mail. This giveaway is brought to you by the company Enchanted Homeschooling Mom, who is owner and founder of the Poppins Book Nook.

By entering this giveaway you are also acknowledging that you have read and agree to all of the PromoSimple terms and conditions as well as Enchanted Homeschooling Mom's disclosures found here {http://enchantedhomeschoolingmom.org/disclosures/}.

Just enter the PromoSimple below to win

Ready to Explore More Weather Books and Activities?


Here are many more great posts from my fellow PBN collaborators that you can check out:


Have You Explored Weather in Books and Activities?

We'd love to see your OWN posts about weather themed books or activities! Simply add your post to the linky below!




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Thanks so much for stopping by! I hope that we've given you some new books to check out and that you will try my cloud man craft! If you do, make sure you let me know! I'd love to see it! Join us next month when we explore the Poppins Book Nook theme that we know best...On the Farm!! 
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