How to Make Elementary School Weather Instruments
Kids seem to have a fascination with the weather, and with a little help and some everyday household objects, they can build their own weather instruments such as wind and rain gauges, thermometers, and barometers. Kids might like to come up with an actual weather forecast, comparing their statistics and forecasts to one done by a local television station. Principles of science, craft skills, and fun are all a part of creating simple weather instruments.
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Things You'll Need
- Anemometer: (Wind Gauge)
- 5 small bathroom cups
- 2 straws
- Straight pin
- Pencil with eraser on one end
- Thermometer:
- Clear plastic water bottle
- Water
- Food Coloring
- Rubbing alcohol
- Clear straw or clear glass tube
- Modeling clay
- Rain gauge:
- Ruler
- Wide-mouthed glass jar
- Permanent magic marker
- Barometer:
- Clear glass jar
- Masking tape
- Balloon
- Rubber band
- Toothpick
- Straw
- 3" x 5" card
Instructions
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Make a wind gauge (an anemometer)
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1
Punch a hole in four small plastic bathroom cups about ½" below the rim.
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2
Punch four holes spaced equidistantly around the rim in the fifth cup.
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3
Push one end of a straw through the hole in one of the cups far enough to be folded over and stapled to itself and repeat with a second cup and straw.
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4
Slide the other end of the straw through two opposite holes in the fifth cup and attach another cup in the opposite direction to the other end of the straw, and repeat with the remaining straw and cup.
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5
Push a straight pin through the bottom of the cup and through the two straws where they cross each other.
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6
Insert the pin into the eraser of the pencil.
Make a Thermometer
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7
Mix 5 ounces of water with 5 ounces of rubbing alcohol in a clear plastic water bottle.
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8
Add few drops of food coloring.
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9
Insert a straw into the water bottle about ½ inch from the bottom and make an airtight seal in the the top of the bottle around the straw.
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10
Check the current temperature and make a mark on the straw at the top of the liquid in the straw. Put the thermometer in a warm place and check the temperature again. Make a mark on the straw indicating the warmer temperature. Repeat in a cool space.
Make a Rain Gauge
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11
Use the ruler and permanent magic marker to mark the outside of a wide-mouthed clear glass jar, making marks in quarter-inch increments. Mark the inches with numbers.
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12
Place the jar outside before a rain storm and read how much rain fell when the storm ends.
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13
Use your rain gauge to measure the moisture in a snowfall by allowing collected snow to melt before reading the gauge.
Making a barometer
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14
Make a barometer by stretching the rubber from a broken balloon over the top of a clear glass jar.
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15
Secure the balloon rubber with a rubber band.
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16
Tape the straw to the piece of balloon so that one end of the straw stretches horizontally out from the jar and the other end goes about 3/4th of the way across the middle of the jar.
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17
Place the jar against a wall with the straw parallel to the wall and tape the index card to the wall so the straw is aligned with about the middle of the card.
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18
Make a mark on the card to show the current air pressure. As the barometric pressure rises or falls, the end of the straw will go up or down.
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1
Tips & Warnings
Determine the wind speed using your anemometer by measuring, in feet, the distance from one cup to the opposite cup and multiplying the number of revolutions per minute by the distance from cup to cup. Dividing this number by 5280 will determine the wind speed in miles per hour. Your barometer will give more accurate readings if you measure pressure at the same temperature each time because temperature affects pressure. As the temperature goes up, the water will rise in the straw, and conversely, as the temperature falls, air pressure falls.
Place your rain gauge in an open area away from your house or trees.
