I have always loved looking at the clouds. I find them so interesting when the weather is changing and you can see a front coming in, or a snowstorm building. My daughter has recently started noticing the sun, the clouds, airplanes and the moon. (She has been quite upset that the moon has been “hiding” for the last month behind the clouds). Her interest in the sky inspired me to pull out another Tomie dePaola favorite!
Standard Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. I may receive a commission from purchases you make through the links in this post.
The Cloud Book
Cotton Ball Clouds
Cotton balls are the best material to have kids explore the different types of clouds. You can fill a sensory table with cotton balls and let younger kids explore with them. For older kids, have them stretch and move the cotton balls around to create the types of clouds that you are describing while you read the book. You can even glue the cotton onto paper in these forms and create your own cloud book. This would be a great reference to take outside with you while you are cloud gazing
Cloud Gazing
Take kids outside to look at the clouds. See what kinds of clouds you can recognize. What shapes do you see in the clouds? This is a great imagination builder, in addition to reinforcing the lessons they learned in the book.
The blog Buggy and Buddy created an adorable set of binoculars out of toilet paper rolls and cotton balls to make cloud gazing even more fun! Paint a pair of empty toilet paper rolls with blue paint and attach cotton balls in cloud formations around them. Connect the two rolls once they have dried to create a set of binoculars.
Shaving Cream Rain Clouds
This is a fun way to show kids how rain clouds work! Fill a glass about 3/4 full with water. Add a layer of shaving cream to the top of the water to represent clouds. Slowly add drops of food coloring to the top of the shaving cream until the colors start to come down into the water as “rain”. Explain to your kids that clouds collect water droplets like the shaving cream collected the food coloring and eventually it becomes too heavy and causes rain, much like the food coloring became too heavy for the shaving cream.
Letter Recognition Clouds
The blog I Can Teach My Child came up with a fun activity for practicing letter recognition. She created “clouds” out of a mix of 4 parts shaving cream and 1 part school glue. She then scooped out little “clouds” of the mixture and let them dry overnight before adding letter stickers to the top of each mound. Her son was then able to squish each letter as she called them out. You can adapt this activity to suit your child’s level of skill by taping sight words to the tops of the clouds, or solutions to simple math problems that you would call out. This creates a great sensory experience while helping kids review important skills.
Cloudy Day Snacks
There are a variety of easy cloud inspired snack options. Scoop blue Jello or fresh blueberries into clear cups and top them with whipped cream. You could also make blue velvet cupcakes topped with white frosting. Blue pudding or yogurt can also be used to represent the sky while whipped cream or marshmallows make great clouds!
Cloud Races
Set up a long cloud race track by taping pieces of blue paper together, end to end. Mark a start line at one end and have two kids stand next to each other and each place a cotton ball on the line. When you say go, have them blow through straws to move their cotton ball down the race track!
The Cloud BookShop on Amazon
Do your kids enjoy watching the clouds? Have you read The Cloud Book
-
- Learning in Nature
-
- Summer Board Books
-
- You are My Sunshine
So cute! We like to point out shapes we see in the clouds. We do it often while driving, which makes it a bit harder to point things out, but the kids still love it and it’s great for vocabulary when you’ve got to describe what you’re seeing.
That is a great idea! I will have to start doing that with my daughter when she is a bit older!
This is so fun! My 10 year old and I love to look at clouds. Thank you for posting! I love your blog so much!!
Thank you! Looking at the clouds is so relaxing, isn’t it?
I love the cloud binoculars. Those are so cute.
Thank you! We keep them by the door now, and my daughter loves using them!
My son will love this–he’s really into the sky.
I’m so glad! I hope he has fun with it!
I love all of these ideas, and I love finding great books I’ve never encountered before! My two-year-old has recently surprised us by telling us what shapes she sees in clouds, so I think she’d get a kick out of this book. I’ll put it on our library list!
That’s awesome! I hope she enjoys it!
So much fun!! What great learning ideas, my kids would love this!
Thank you! I hope they enjoy it!
Such great ideas! Clouds are so much fun to look at! I love your blog!
Thank you! I agree they are fun to look at!
I love the activities you include to go along with the books you read. They help make text-to-life connections in such a fabulous way. I’m a big fan of the cloud snacks!
Than you! I love the idea of bringing books to life!
I always love your ideas! I think you were right though, maybe some of it will come back to me!
Thank you!
This is cute
Thank you!
My daughter and I went to a park this past summer and laid on our backs and looked at the clouds for over an hour. Took me right back to my childhood. I don’t think we ever should be too busy in our lives that we stop to forget the wonder of clouds 🙂
I love that! Sounds like an amazing day!
Those binoculars are so cute. My daughter is still young, but is really obsessed with all things in the sky, this sounds perfect.
I’m glad! I hope she likes them!
I miss the days when my children would find strange and peculiar things in the clouds, though there a few moments left here and there when we pick the habit up again while driving around. Tomie DePaolo is a great author and was born in my hometown, so I enjoyed reading his books to the kids when they were growing up. Great piece and great idea!!
Thank you! That’s awesome he was born in your hometown! He is one of my all time favorites!
What great ideas!
Thank you!
What a cool and interactive book. Need to check it out!
Thank you! I hope you enjoy it!
This is great! I will be doing this with my daughter.
That’s great! I hope you enjoy it!
This was one of my most favorite books when I was younger! Love your ideas, I want to work them into my daughters school day. Thank you!
Thank you! I hope she has fun with it!
I remember learning about clouds in school & trying to always find out which ones we had afterwards but along the way I’ve forgotten all about them
Me too! Part of the reason I enjoy this book. It helped me to remember them!
You always have the most fun things to do with books!
I just ordered this book, I think my little man will love it and he’ll definitely love the little binoculars!
Thank you! I hope he has fun with it!
I am obsessed with your site!! You come up with the best ideas for every book you find! Have you ever thought about selling lessons on teacherspayteachers?
Thank you! I hadn’t! I will look into it though!
He is one of my favorite authors! I love the idea of pairing crafts with the book. This would make a great homeschool lesson! I also pinned this for later.
Thank you! He is one of my favorites too!
We are reading Jan Brett’s Noah’s Ark right now, this is the perfect go along. Great post! Thank you for sharing.
I love Jan Brett’s work too!
My daughter would love this. She is just now getting to the point where she is looking up, observing that the clouds look different, and asking us if they are rain clouds. Looking forward to trying some of these project ideas.
That’s awesome! I hope she has fun with them!