Weather Teaching Resources

Browse printable weather worksheets, activities, science vocabulary resources,  experiments for kids and more ideas for teaching students in elementary school about the weather outside your classroom and around the world.

This collection of curriculum-aligned weather teaching resources was created by teachers with teachers in mind. That means every printable and digital resource has been carefully checked by a member of our expert teacher team to ensure it's classroom-ready, so you save time on your lesson plans!

Looking to get started on the weather, or just need more ways to make this science topic more engaging in your classroom? Read on for a primer from our teacher team! 

What Is Weather? A Kid-Friendly Definition

When it comes to defining weather for students, here's a kid-friendly definition you can use to explain what weather is:

Weather refers to the conditions in the Earth's atmosphere, such as temperature, wind, precipitation and cloudiness. The weather outside your classroom or home is affected by many things, including the amount of sunlight reaching the Earth's surface, the rotation of the Earth and the presence of water vapor in the atmosphere.

Weather can change rapidly, and it can be unpredictable, so it's important to stay informed about current weather conditions and be prepared for different types of weather.

What Is Weather Science?

Meteorology — also known as weather science — is the study of the Earth's atmosphere and the weather conditions that occur within it. This includes studying temperature, air pressure, wind, precipitation and other atmospheric phenomena.

Weather scientists known as meteorologists use a variety of tools, such as satellites, radar and weather balloons, to collect data about the atmosphere and predict what the weather will be like in the future. These predictions are called weather forecasts and help us decide what to wear or how to plan for outdoor activities that might be affected by rain, snow or excessive heat.

Weather science isn't just important for telling us what to wear, however! It helps us prepare for extreme weather events, provides important information for transportation and aviation safety and helps scientists better understand the Earth's climate.

Students can act as amateur meteorologists as they learn to record weather information to keep track of what is going on outside of your classroom, including relative temperatures such as hot or cold, clear or cloudy, calm or windy and rainy or icy!

Is Climate the Same as Weather?

The two words are often used interchangeably, but it's important to impress upon your students that weather and climate are two very different things!

Weather, as we already explained, deals with the conditions of Earth's atmosphere at any given time. It can be termed as the short-term atmospheric conditions of a specific place — such as temperature, wind, humidity, precipitation and cloud cover — over a short period of time, usually a few hours or days.

Climate, on the other hand, is a look at those conditions over a long period of time. It can be termed as the long-term average weather patterns of a specific region or location, usually over a period of at least 30 years.

What Do Kids Need to Learn About Weather?

Weather is a broad, broad topic — to say the least! So what's going on during elementary school weather lessons? Before kids move on to middle school, they should have a basic understanding of the different elements that make up the weather and how they interact with each other. They'll also need to understand weather forecasts and how to use them to plan.

With that in mind, here are the biggest topics to cover:

• Temperature — Learning how to measure temperature using a thermometer and how temperature changes over time, as well as the difference between Celsius and Fahrenheit, are part of weather lessons at this stage of kids' education.
• Precipitation — Elementary students learn about different types of precipitation — such as rain, snow, sleet and hail — and how they form in the atmosphere.
• Wind — Wind direction and speed, how wind is measured and how it affects the weather should all be covered before kids head off to middle school.
• Clouds — From cumulus to strato-form, students learn about the different types of clouds and how they form plus how clouds affect the weather.
• Extreme Weather —  Extreme weather events such as hurricanes, tornadoes and thunderstorms are typically part of the science curriculum at this stage, and depending on where you are teaching instruction on how to stay safe during these events may well be on the agenda.