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How To Make A Rain Gauge For Kids

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how to make a rain gauge

Rainy days are the coziest, don’t you think? When I saw that we were getting a heavy downpour in our usually dry area of southern California, I knew a weather unit was in store for our preschool at home. Homeschooling preschool gives me the freedom to choose our activities, and today we learned how to make a rain gauge!

How To Make A Homemade Rain Gauge

A rain gauge measures rainfall. Rainfall is usually measured in millimeters, but for learning at home we created a rain gauge and measured inches of rain.

In this activity, this diy rain gauge is not meant to be exact, but instead, it is a learning tool for children to predict, observe, and study rain.

And we had so much fun learning how to make a rain gauge doing this activity! Plus, it’s so simple!

Supplies To Make A DIY Rain Gauge

Here’s what you need to make one:

how to make a rain gauge

Instructions For Making A Homemade Rain Gauge

Start by painting the unfinished wood base with blue watercolor paint.

Once the paint is dry, use a waterproof adhesive to attach the base of the mason jar to the center of the wood piece.

Allow the adhesive to dry completely.

Now you have a rain gauge! It’s that simple!

Set the rain gauge outside on a flat surface to collect the drops of rain as it falls. Predict how full the jar will be after several hours of rain. Observe your DIY rain gauge filling, and take readings as the rainy day goes on. Hold the ruler up against the gauge, or dip it into the water for a reading.

For younger children, use a dry erase marker to mark the level of the water at different times of observation. The kids will see the amount of rain increasing with each new mark. Using a ruler to measure the rainfall isn’t necessary.

Part of the fun of learning how to make a rain gauge is getting to go out in the rain to see how much rain has been collected. I put the homemade rain gauge on a stump in our yard, and my kids loved splashing in the puddles on their way out to do their rainfall observation!

how to make a rain gauge

How To Make A Rain Gauge At Home

A homemade rain gauge is a great way to teach kids about weather and climate, and they make for fun science experiments, too. If you’re looking for a rainy day activity or want to teach your kids about measuring precipitation, why not try making your own diy rain gauge? It’s easy and inexpensive, and the results can be really impressive.

Have you ever made a homemade rain gauge? How did it turn out?

Thanks for sharing - You're awesome!

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