How to Make a Homemade Rain Gauge With Reusable Items

Students can measure rainfall with homemade rain gauges.

Rain gauges are instruments used by scientists to measure rainfall in a certain area. Teachers, homeschooling parents and weather conscience individuals can incorporate a lesson on recycling with a rain gauge project to promote the importance of caring for our environment while learning about how our environment operates. Children will be required to create a rain gauge that is constructed out of items that were originally used for something else.

Things You'll Need

• 2-liter plastic bottle
• Ruler
• Utility knife
• Rubber bands, heavy duty tape or a strong glue
• Masking tape

Instructions

1. Wash and dry a 2-liter plastic bottle after the contents have been consumed. Measure four inches down from the top and cut all the way around the bottle with a utility knife. The bottom portion is the base of your rain gauge.

2. Secure a ruler to the outside of the plastic bottle with either a few rubber bands, heavy duty tape or a strong glue. The zero must be at the bottom of the rain gauge with the numbers working their way up the bottle.

3. Flip the top of your plastic bottle so that it looks like a funnel. Set it inside the bottom portion. It may rest there without the need to be secured. If not, run a piece of masking tape around the edges.

4. Set the homemade rain gauge outside in an open area on a day when rainfall is predicted. Wait for rainfall.

5. Collect the rain gauge after the rain has stopped falling and record the rain measurement (the number on your ruler that matches the water level in the plastic bottle).

Tips & Warnings

• You can use a clear pickle or mayonnaise jar instead of a soda bottle, but if you do so you will need to construct your own funnel to be placed in the top of the jar.

• Placing your rain gauge near a tree or building will result in a false reading. Trees and buildings block the rain, which means the rain won't be able to enter the rain gauge.

References

• The Center for Innovation in Engineering and Science Education: Make and Use a Rain Gauge to Measure Precipitation
• Nature Net News: May 2006