Montessori At Home: Rain in a Jar!

Do you know this tongue twister about weather?

Whether the weather be fine,
Or whether the weather be not,
Whether the weather be cold,
Or whether the weather be hot,
We’ll weather the weather,
Whatever the weather,
Whether we like it or not.

While it may never be too cold in Singapore, it certainly does get hot, and occasionally hazy. On these days we often find ourselves indoors lamenting the weather, but we have a fun way to weather those hazy indoor days and practice some Montessori along the way.

Weather is science, and it is replicable in your own kitchen! A great indoor activity is creating rain in a jar. This activity needs:

• • • 1 clear glass jar
    • 1 plate
    • 1 cup water
    • 1 cup of ice cubes

1. Gather your materials. Children can help to carry everything to a clean work surface that is at their eye level. 
2. Adults heat the water until it is boiling and fill the glass jar ⅓ full. 
3. Your child can place the plate on top of the jar, covering it. 
4. Wait 2 minutes and then have your child place the ice cubes on the plate. 
5. Watch what happens in the jar! The cold plate causes the moisture in the jar to condense and form water droplets on the plate and sides of the jar. The droplets then fall down, just like rain. 
6. As you watch the ‘rain’ you can introduce new vocabulary! With younger children, you can introduce words such as raindrop, and talk about the sensations of hot, cold,  and wet. With older children, you can use the rain jar to introduce condensation and precipitation.