In the past few weeks, while the Class 201 were investigating the life cycle of leaves/pumpkin in Autumn, they learned that trees lose a lot of water. When winter arrives, the trees are no longer able to get enough water to replace it. We know that leaves fall off trees to survive the winter and grow new leaves in the spring. But the Class 201 started questioning on a rainy day, “Why the sky keep raining in Fall?” “Where does the rain come from?” “Where does the raindrop go?” This led us to a new exploration of rain/water.
The Class studied the water cycle by watching an educational video, followed by a discussion of types of weather and what makes rain. We knew that Clouds could only form when the air is rising. When air rises, it cools off, causing water droplets to form, making clouds. So the reason that clouds can hold water droplets, is that the air in clouds are rising, and the rising air keeps pushing the water droplets up.
In writing center, the Class 201 drew a picture and labeled the four main stages in the water cycle.
How Clouds Make Rain: A Science Experiment
To start off our experiment, the Class 201 filled a container with water and made a “cloud” by adding shaving foam. Then, we used droppers and added blue food coloring to the cloud. As the “cloud” filled up with water(“rain”), it got heavier by adding water with the dropper. The children then observed how the “rain” fell from the “cloud.”
The Class 201 documented their finding and conclusion on a piece of paper after the experiment.
Our children were so engaged in this experiment and had so much fun! We will continue this experiment next week since not all children who wanted to conduct this experiment had a turn last week.
Have a wonderful weekend!