Preschool Cotton Ball Clouds Activity

My preschooler and I made a trip to the grocery store this morning in a thick fog. My daughter was having so much fun observing the fog that she insisted we drive with her window down so she could get a closer look. As we walked through the parking lot into the store she said, “Mommy, we are walking in the clouds!” Not only was I impressed with her observation but it couldn’t have come at a more perfect time since our creative preschool theme this week is all about weather. When we returned home we made this preschool cotton ball clouds activity and spent the rest of the morning learning all about clouds. Make sure to check out the other preschool weather activities near the end of this post!

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If you are learning about clouds in preschool, reading Anne Rockwell’s book Clouds is a must do! It is a wonderfully written book, perfect for preschool age children, that teaches about the different types of clouds and how observing the clouds can help you determine what the weather will be like. After reading it with my preschooler we set out to make some clouds of our own, cotton ball style!

PRESCHOOL COTTON BALL CLOUDS ACTIVITY

Supplies you will need:

blue cardstock paper (we used 12″ x 12″ size)
green cardstock paper
cotton balls
gray paint
sponge brush
markers
Preschool Cloud Activity Printable
scissors
school glue

Directions:

1. Start by cutting out a small strip of grass from your green cardstock paper and glue it to the button of your blue cardstock paper. Use your markers to draw trees in your grass.2. With your Cloud book as a reference, make the different types of clouds out of cotton balls and glue them onto your blue cardstock paper. Manipulating the cotton balls is great for strengthening those fine motor muscles. Stretch the cotton balls out to make long straight clouds that fill the sky, or pull off pieces of a cotton ball to make smaller balls of clouds or wispy clouds up high in the sky.

3. After making your clouds, you may want to add more details to a few of your clouds with gray paint and markers. We found it worked best to use a foam brush to dab paint onto our cotton balls. My preschooler also drew rain and lightning under a few of her clouds.

4. Next, cut out the cloud labels from the Preschool Cloud Activity Printable and line them up next to your cloud picture. Use the book as a guide again and discuss what each cloud is called, find the correct label for each of your clouds, and glue them onto your cloud picture.

Now, next time you are curious about the weather or what the weather is going to be like you can look out your window or go outside, observe the clouds in the sky, and be your own meteorologist.

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