Geography Lesson for Kids - Weather Today?

The weather is an important part of the character of a place. The amount of sun or rain, heat or cold, the direction and strength of the wind, all determine such things as how people dress, how well crops grow, and the extent to which people will want to live in a particular spot. Join your kids in observing weather conditions.

Ages 4-5

• Look at a large outdoor thermometer together and talk about what the temperature tells us about the day.
  
  
• Watch the weather forecast on television or read the weather map in the newspaper. Reading the weather map helps kids observe changes in the local climate.
  
  
• Use a weather map in the daily paper to look up the temperatures of cities around the world and discover how hot some get in the summer and how cold some get in the winter. Look up the temperature in several cities, and have your children guess what that temperature might be. "It's 45 degrees here in New York City. What do you think the temperature is in Florida today?" Compare these figures with your town. Ask your kids if they can think of reasons why different locations have different temperatures. Many children enjoy finding the place that is the hottest or the coldest.
  
  
• Watch cloud formations and make your own predictions. Will it rain? Will the weather change tomorrow? What do the clouds look like? Don't be afraid to guess, and then check your prediction later in the day.