With summer arriving here in the Midwest our weather is all over the place. It is such a great season to talk about meteorology with the kids. We can have 90-degree days and then a sudden drop in temperature along with severe thunderstorms. The humidity can be crazy high and hard to breathe in. There is also the chance for tornado weather at the drop of a hat. I take this opportunity to home in our weather studies. The winter has its own kind of weather, but it isn’t nearly as dramatic as our summers are.
Teaching about weather is fun when the kids can actually make something to monitor it on their own. In addition to a weather station, we set outside, we also like to make our own barometers. I’m going to share with you an easy way to make a functioning barometer that you can use to track weather in your area. We have a journal that we chart our findings in each day. This gives them a good insight as to what is going to happen outside.
Let’s first talk about what a barometer is and how it is used. A barometer is a tool that measures atmospheric pressure. The atmosphere is layers of air that has weight and presses against everything. Gravity pulls this air to the Earth and the barometer measures the pressure. It can be an indicator of weather by observing this atmospheric pressure. For example, if the air pressure is low, it is consistent with rainy, windy, or cloudy days. The air pressure isn’t strong enough to push those clouds away. If the pressure is high, then it will usually be a sunny cloudless day. The pressure is high enough to push the clouds away. This is a simple way to explain how the barometer works to your kids. If you really want to get into it with how the air pressure is measured visit: Barometer (nationalgeographic.org). This is a great article that explains all of the different types of barometers and their uses.
Now let’s get on to making our own. You will need to collect a few items to make your barometers.
Gather up: 1 Glass Jar, 1 Rubber Band, 1 Balloon, Tape, and 1 Straw.
Then you are ready to get measuring!
Begin by cutting the bottom off of the balloon off. Then you will stretch the balloon across the top of the glass jar. Secure the balloon onto the jar with a rubber band.
Next, tape the straw to the top of the balloon. Allow for quite a bit of overhang onto one side. This way you will be able to see clearly if the straw is moving up or down. Then have your child make a chart with ledger lines going vertically up a piece of paper. On the top of the paper put a sun and, on the bottom, put rain clouds. Then center your barometer so that the straw is lined up with the middle ledger line.
Now if you chart it each day, you will be able to see how high or low the straw moves in connection with the air pressure. When the barometer stays in the center, the weather should reflect this as well by being neutral. This would be not too humid or hot. There may be some fluffy white clouds in the sky. As the weather changes you will see a noticeable drop or rise in the straw. My kids have so much fun with these and enjoy charting the position every day. Once they chart it, they go look outside and keep an eye on the sky. Their barometers have not been wrong yet.
Give this project a try to capitalize on some summer science lessons. I promise this one is so fun they won’t even think they are learning. Happy summer!!
-Nicole