Types of Weather

Foundational weather-naming topic for ages 5–7: children name and describe sunny, rainy, windy, snowy, cloudy, foggy and stormy weather, say what today's weather is like in simple words, and match weather types to symbols. Keep it concrete and observational — name the weather you can see and feel out of the window (looking at the sky and ground, never straight at the sun) — with no mechanism yet (that comes later). The core activity is a tap-to-reveal weather scene that attaches words and symbols to observable cues; strong follow-ons include a weather-report/tally builder (seeding patterns-over-time), matching/describe quizzes for checking vocabulary, and an optional weather-presenter conversation to elicit a child's own words.

• 'It's a bad/good day' instead of a weather description — children conflate weather with mood/value; steer toward neutral descriptive words.
• Cloudy vs foggy vs stormy blur together — distinguish by concrete cues (fog is low and you can't see far; storm has wind + rain + maybe thunder).
• 'Windy' is judged only by extreme gusts — gentle breezes count too; wind is a spectrum, not just gales.
• Weather is only what's overhead now — children may miss that it changes through the day; the daily chart helps them notice.
• Snow/ice only 'counts' as weather in storybook winters — include the full local range, and that some places rarely see snow at all.

• A single illustrated weather scene with each weather type shown and tappable/label-able — the canonical naming surface.
• Weather-symbol cards (sun, cloud, rain, snow, wind, fog, storm) matched to photos of real conditions.
• A daily class weather chart/calendar where today's weather is marked with a symbol.
• Sensory pairing: an image plus a felt-word (sunny–warm, snowy–cold, rainy–wet, windy–blowy).

• Anchor every weather word to first-hand observation — look out of the window and name today's weather — so vocabulary attaches to lived, sensory experience, not just pictures.
• Pair each weather type with a canonical simple symbol (sun, cloud, raincloud, snowflake, wind lines) and practise matching both ways, since symbol-reading is an explicit evidence target and a gateway to weather charts.
• Build a shared daily weather-chart routine so the same words recur over days and children begin to notice change and repetition (seeding the later patterns-over-time idea).
• Engage multiple senses: weather is felt (warm sun, cold wind, wet rain) as well as seen — use sound and touch descriptions to enrich the vocabulary.
• Accept and extend everyday words ('freezing', 'boiling', 'chucking it down') toward the shared science vocabulary rather than correcting them away.
• Keep it description-only at this age — resist explaining WHY (what causes wind/rain); the naming and noticing is the whole job here.