When cold air hits moisture in the air, it rains. Let your kids discover how it works with just a few supplies. Place two inches of boiling water in a glass jar. Cover it with a plate and let it sit awhile. Then place a few ice cubes on top of the plate. When you lift the plate, droplets of water, or rain, will fall from the plate. Just like when the warm, moist air near the surface meets colder air at higher levels of the atmosphere. The water evaporates, causing condensation that becomes rain when it hits the cold air above.
Let kids answer the question they ask so often. Using a flashlight, empty soda bottle, milk and water, let kids discover how the angle of the sun alters the colors in the sky from morning, throughout the day and into the evening, creating a variety of colors. Demonstrate the variety of scattering particles in the air by adding milk to water and then shining a flashlight onto the bottle until a blue wavelength appears. Increasing the amount of milk changes the colors to red and orange.
A tornado is a rotating column of air created when warm air meets cool air, creating an unstable atmosphere. As the winds rotate and build, a vortex forms and the storm increases in intensity. Let kids create a tornado with two empty 2-liter soda bottles, duct tape liquid soap and vinegar. Fasten an empty soda bottle over a soda bottle two-thirds full of water, then duct tape the openings together. Then turn the bottles upside down and swirl in a circle. As the water flows into the bottom bottle, a tornado will form in the top. For a demonstration, add glitter to the mix to represent the debris strewn by the force of a tornado.
Create thunder for a dramatic project. Thunder is caused by heated air expanding and creating waves of energy that make noise. Let kids do a project that demonstrates how this processes happen in nature, using a brown paper bag. To demonstrate thunder, blow up the paper bag and twist it closed so no air escapes. Quickly pop it with your hands, breaking the bag, creating a loud noise as the air escapes. The heated air of your breath expands in the confined space of the bag, causing a loud noise upon impact.