CLOUD AND LIGHTNING PAINTING:

Materials: white paper, grey paint (or mix black and white), blue paper, yellow paper, child safe scissors, glue stick.

Step 1: Have your child paint a cloud on the white paper or draw a simple puffy cloud for you child and have him/her paint on it (good for little ones).
Step 2: When the paint dries cut out the cloud and then have your child glue it on the blue paper.
Step 3: Next cut out a simple lightning shape from the yellow paper.
Step 4: Have your child glue the lightning shape onto the cloud.
Step 5: Display or glue into your Family Theme Day scrapbook.

UMBRELLA AND RAIN PICTURE:

Materials: Blue paper, coloured paper, a bowl for tracing, a pencil, glue stick, child safe scissors, white glue, damp cloth for sticky fingers.

Step 1: Have your child pick the colour of the umbrella and then trace around a bowl with a pencil to create a circle. Cut out the circle and then cut that in half to create the umbrella.
Step 2: cut out a letter “J” shape from another colour of paper to be the handle.
Step 3: Have your child glue the two pieces together on the blue paper to create an umbrella.
Step 4: Use white to drizzle down on top of the umbrella and let it dry to create rain. It would probably look nicer if you drip the glue by squeezing it from the bottle but our top was plugged so we had to unscrew the whole thing and the glue just plopped out in large blobs!

PIN WHEEL:

Materials: Paper, pencil, ruler, eraser, long pin (we used one from a remembrance day poppy on one which worked the best and another had just a coloured thumb tack which doesn’t spin as nicely), stickers or crayons or markers, child safe scissors, a pencil to use as the pin-wheel stick (It must have an eraser).

Step 1: Cut a sheet of white paper so that it is an even square.
Step 2: Give the sheet to your child to colour and decorate on both sides. I think crayons give it a nice look. Your child can use stickers, too (we didn’t).
Step 3: Lightly draw a line diagonally from each corner to the opposite corner to create an “X” and then lightly draw a circle around the centre point (this is a reference so that your child does not cut past the circle).
Step 4: Let your child cut four lines from each corner only until the drawn circle (otherwise the craft will not work).
Step 5: (Adult step) Fold up each end until it meets the middle point (the middle of the “X”) and press down as you add each corner. Always go in the same direction and do not press down to bend the paper into a firm fold, you are creating a rounded fold. This is the hardest part as the corners often slipped form my grip!
Step 6: (Adult step) Insert the pin through all the folded over corners through the middle of the paper and then press the pin into the eraser of the pencil you are using for the stick.
Step 7: Now have your kids blow to try to move the paper pin wheel. Ours was a bit too big and the one that moved the best was the one pictured on the right using a long pin (from the Poppy) not the thumb tack. Have your child see which positions the wind (breath) needs to be to make it move. Generally speaking the pinwheel should spin when the wind hits the center).

Weather

KITE ORNAMENT:

Materials: harder construction paper, yarn, hole punch, beads (optional), child safe scissors, crayons, markers or stickers, (Optional) glue stick and scraps of paper cut into different shapes (this is what we used to decorate).

Step 1: Cut a diamond shape from the construction paper (as large or as small as you or your child desires).
Step 2: Have your child decorate the diamond however he/she chooses. Your child can draw on it using crayons or markers or can decorate it with stickers. We choose to cut out some basic shapes from scrap coloured paper (leftovers from various crafts) and then glued them to the diamond using the glue stick.
Step 3: Use the hold punch to punch a hole at the bottom of the kite to thread and tie a piece of coloured yarn to be the kite’s string.
Step 4: (Optional) your child can decorate the string in various ways. We used beads and then threaded pieces of hole punched construction paper as well. You could use ribbons to tie bows onto it or glue two paper bow shapes together to sandwich the string. Let your imagination soar!
Step 5: You can now hole punch another hole at the top to thread a lighter string (some fishing string or simple thread) which is less visible and use this to hand the kite up from the ceiling.

With so many different types of weather there are so many different crafts you can make. Let your kids choose which ones they like!

CRAFTS

PAINT SPLATTER SNOWY SCENE:

Materials: blue paper, white paint, (other colour paint for optional cabins, houses, trees etc.), an tooth brush with stiff bristles that you will keep with your paint supplies, wax paper or paint pallet, old clothes or art smock, newspaper or plastic to cover your work area.

Step 1: Have your child paint a wintery scene onto the blue paper using the white paint. Encourage creativity and allow your child to paint trees, houses, a cabin, or animals etc.
Step 2: Show your child how to dip the paint brush into the white paint and then hold it pointing down over the painting. Rub the bristles with one finger and let the paint splatter over the blue sky to create a snowing effect. If this isn’t working well your toothbrush may be too soft. Our first round didn't work so I found an old unused stiff toothbrush that I have from a travel kit and that worked much better!
Step 3: let the painting dry and then display or glue into your Family Theme Day Scrapbook.

WIND SOCK:

NOTE: This wind sock won’t last long in very windy weather and certainly not in the rain. You could make it using a plastic bag if you want it to last longer. We made ours on a snowy day so we simply hung it up inside as a decoration.

Materials: Paper bag, streamers, stickers, markers or crayons, white glue, a pin or needle (parent only), a coloured pipe cleaner, tape.

Step 1: Have your child decorate the paper bag using crayons, markers or stickers.
Step 2: Cut out long pieces of party streamers (we used 10 in total).
Step 3: Dab some white glue on the end of each piece of streamer and then have yrou child press them inside the paper bag, hanging down.
Step 4: Let the glue dry and then carefully poke a pin through the top of the paper bag (adult step) and insert the pipe cleaner through the hole. Put your hand in the bag to bend a bit of the pipe cleaner down and then tape that end to the inside of the paper bag. Use the pipe cleaner to hang up your wind sock.