If you are trying to entertain the kids at home or are just looking for a meteorological experiment then you've come to the right place!

First up we have the Cloud in a Bottle experiment:

Equipment:
• 1 large clear-plastic bottle with a screw-on top (e.g. a 3-litre juice bottle)
• 1 match
• 1 cup of water

Instructions:
Step 1. Pour the water into the bottle, put the top on and shake it around. Leave it for a few hours so that the air in the bottle gets very humid. (You can do the word find below while you wait)

Step 2. Remove the top of the bottle

Step 3. Light the match (children need adult supervision), let it burn a few seconds, blow it out, then quickly drop the match into the bottle. Screw the top tightly back on the bottle.

Step 4. Now squeeze the bottle firmly and hold for about 30 seconds

Step 5. Now look closely at the air in the bottle as you suddenly release the pressure on the bottle. The temperature of the saturated air will cool, and there are so many condensation nuclei in there, that tiny droplets should form. It’s a cloud!
Step 6. If you squeeze the bottle again, the cloud droplets will evaporate again and the cloud disappears

Technical explanations:
Step 1: When air is very humid air, it is called being “saturated”
Step 3: The smoke from the match will act as tiny ‘condensation nuclei’ on which cloud droplets can form
Step 4: Squeezing it increases the pressure of the air in the bottle, warming it slightly. Continuing to squeeze the bottle allows it to cool back to room temperature.

 

Meteorological Word Find.

 

 

Create a rain gauge

Measuring how much rain has fallen needs a rain gauge. We can make a simple rain gauge by using a straight sided bottle, some stones, scissors, a marker and a ruler: