Give your children a national “precipitation map” like the one by Scholastic. Have them answer questions about the kinds of weather that the map shows, then write up a national “weather report” imitating the meteorologists they’ve seen on TV. Make a “TV” by cutting out the bottom and a window on the side of a cardboard box and have them wear the TV on their heads while giving their weather reports to the class.
Teach your children about the basic types of clouds: stratus, cumulus, autocumulus, stratocumulus, cumulonimbus and cirrus. Take them outside on a cloudy day and have them make a chart of the sorts of clouds they can spot. Keep a chart on the wall and add to it as the year goes on and they’re able to see different clouds out the window. Include such information as the date and time and the weather forecast.
Tornadoes are vortexes of air. To help your third-graders understand what a vortex is, ask each one to bring a mayonnaise or mason jar to class. Let each child fill his jar about three quarters full with water, then add one teaspoon each of salad oil and liquid soap. Optionally, they can pour in some glitter to represent the kind of debris that tornados pick up, or food coloring. When they swirl their jars in a circular motion, a vortex will form inside.
To show what happens when trade winds blow over ocean waters with a warmed surface (as happens with El Nino), try this experiment issued by NASA: Pour colored oil on top of different-colored water and blow on it with a hairdryer. The oil represents the hot upper waters; students will be able to observe how the oil moves and what happens to the water it leaves behind, as well as discuss how all that warm water in one place will affect the weather there.