Teaching Science With Lynda: Water Cycle Activity: Creating Rain

By Guest Blogger Tammy Curletto

“It’s raining, it’s pouring, the old man is snoring!”

You can make your very own rain, in a bag. How fun to watch your students observe nature’s phenomena by making rain and recreating the water cycle. Students will watch clouds form and rain fall, all in a bag.

Materials:

Zip top sandwich bag

Half cup of dirt (potting soil, backyard dirt, etc.)

Plant mister

Tape

Window

What you do:

Have child spoon dirt into the sandwich bag

Have child generously “mist” the dirt inside the bag. The dirt needs to be moist, but not muddy.

Have the child zip the bag tightly shut.

Observe.

What Happens?

The bag will become cloudy as the moisture evaporates and forms a foggy cloud inside the bag. Depending upon your specific conditions (where the window is, how much sunlight is available, outside temperature at the window) this could take two to three hours, or could take overnight. Once the “cloud” inside the bag can hold no more moisture, your child will notice “rain” coming down the inside walls of the bag. Open and gently mist the bag again, tape to the window, and watch the whole cycle repeat itself.

A great way to extend this activity is to have the students make several bags and place on different windows on different sides of the school or house.

Vocabulary:

Precipitation

Evaporation

Condensation

Accumulation