Rain Clouds

     I've seen several variations of this experiment on other blogs and decided to give it a try on our next rainy day.  Well, it didn't take long for it to rain so we ran with it!

     Most of the blogs I've seen show this experiment using a jar full of water with shaving cream on top.  However, I wanted my little one to see the 'rain' fall through the clouds into the jar and I wanted him to hear the 'rain' as it tapped on the bottom of the jar so I created a new version.
     In this version, we used:

• A glass jar with a twist on lid
  

• A paper towel
• Cotton rounds (I ran out of cotton balls!)
• Blue food coloring
• An eyedropper
• Water
  

     First, we put the paper towel over the top of the empty jar and twisted the lid on top to keep it in place.

     Then we fluffed up the cotton rounds and placed them on top of the paper towel as clouds.  It would have been easier to use regular cotton balls but, again, I ran out so we had to make do.  We put the jar on an old cookie sheet to catch any spills.

     Next, we created rain by mixing water with a few drops of blue food coloring. 

     My little buddy spent the next few minutes using the dropper to fill the clouds up with water.  We spent that time talking about how clouds fill up with water and, when they get too heavy, the clouds just aren't strong enough to hold the heavy water and they have to let it out.  And that's when it starts raining.  At 3 years old, it seemed like the perfect explanation and he was even able to reiterate it to his older brother later in the day.

     Eventually my little one's cloud was bursting with water and it started to rain in the jar. 

     He was so proud of himself! He spent the afternoon telling the rest of our family about his rain experiment and how clouds work.

Do you have another variation of this experiment?  Tell us about it in the comments!

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