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Autumn is a wonderful time of year for learning about the weather isn't it? There is just so much of it! We have had strong winds, rain, sunshine and drizzle this past week so it's been an ideal time to talk with my children about different types of weather. Of course living in England makes weather discussion a frequent occurrence, so it is a natural progression for an English-born mama to make the weather a part of our every day lives.
I have helped my children learn about the weather is all sorts of ways over the years. I began when they were babies by making sure to take them out for walks whatever the weather. I used a pram with my first baby and I felt like being in the little cosy cocoon under a plastic cover must be a wonderful sensory experience on a rainy day, seeing the water dribbling down and hearing the pitter-patter sound of the drops hitting the cover. As they got older jumping in puddles was essential to every wet weather walk and a toddler clad in wellies and a puddle suits can be amused for ages by splashy puddles of all shapes and sizes. A windy day would lend itself perfectly to kite flying and many hours have been spent dragging a nylon kite on along strong round a field in attempts to keep it in the sky. And of course we all know the wonders of a snowy winters day, with snowman building, snow angles and tobogganing.
I love to use seasonal nature walks as part of our home education and these two books have been invaluable in linking in the seasons with my planning:
This week at a lovely little science club we go to, run by a friend, we made a wind turbine and an anemometer out of plastic cups and we will be recording the weather as the week goes on. I also love to link our activities in with Bible stories there are many which lend themselves to a weather theme for example Noah's Ark in Genesis 5:32-1-:1 and Jesus calming the storm in Luke 8:23-25.
Here I have put together a selection of links to fantastic weather related activities for children of all ages and stages to take part in so you can make weather study part of your home education journey. I have not done all the activities listed below but I have done some, hopefully they will spark your imagination as much as they have mine.
I hope you are all able to enjoy the wild and wonderful British weather and incorporate it into your home education, and as I listen to the sound of our roof aerial banging unnervingly against it's bracket in the wind, I'll leave you with this poem by one of my favorite authors and poets, Shirley Hughes:
It's from this book by Shirley Hughes about the seasons which I absolutely love:
