Weather Teaching Resources
Browse printable weather worksheets, activities, science vocabulary resources, experiments for kids, resources about floods and natural disasters and more ideas for teaching students in primary school about the weather outside your classroom and around the world.
This collection of curriculum-aligned weather teaching resources was created by teachers with teachers in mind. That means every printable and digital resource has been carefully checked by a member of our expert teacher team to ensure it's classroom-ready, so you save time on your lesson plans!
Looking to get started on the weather, or just need more ways to make this science topic more engaging in your classroom? Read on for a primer from our teacher team!
What Is Weather? A Kid-Friendly Definition
When it comes to defining weather for students, here's a kid-friendly definition you can use to explain what weather is:
Weather refers to the conditions in the Earth's atmosphere, such as temperature, wind, precipitation and cloudiness. The weather outside your classroom or home is affected by many things, including the amount of sunlight reaching the Earth's surface, the rotation of the Earth and the presence of water vapour in the atmosphere.
Weather can change rapidly, and it can be unpredictable, so it's important to stay informed about current weather conditions and be prepared for different types of weather.
What Is Weather Science?
Meteorology — also known as weather science — is the study of the Earth's atmosphere and the weather conditions that occur within it. This includes studying temperature, air pressure, wind, precipitation and other atmospheric phenomena.
Weather scientists known as meteorologists use a variety of tools, such as satellites, radar and weather balloons, to collect data about the atmosphere and predict what the weather will be like in the future. These predictions are called weather forecasts and help us decide what to wear or how to plan for outdoor activities that might be affected by rain or excessive heat.
Weather science isn't just important for telling us what to wear, however! It helps us prepare for extreme weather events, provides important information for transportation and aviation safety and helps scientists better understand the Earth's climate.
Students can act as amateur meteorologists as they learn to record weather information to keep track of what is going on outside of your classroom, including relative temperatures such as hot or cold, clear or cloudy, calm or windy and rainy or icy!
Is Climate the Same as Weather?
The two words are often used interchangeably, but it's important to impress upon your students that weather and climate are two very different things!
Weather, as we already explained, deals with the conditions of Earth's atmosphere at any given time. It can be termed as the short-term atmospheric conditions of a specific place — such as temperature, wind, humidity, precipitation and cloud cover — over a short period of time, usually a few hours or days.
Climate, on the other hand, is a look at those conditions over a long period of time. It can be termed as the long-term average weather patterns of a specific region or location, usually over a period of at least 30 years.
What Do Kids Need to Learn About Weather?
Weather is a broad, broad topic — to say the least! So what's going on during primary school weather lessons? Before kids move on to high school, they should have a basic understanding of the different elements that make up the weather and how they interact with each other. They'll also need to understand weather forecasts and how to use them to plan.
With that in mind, here are the biggest topics to cover:
- Temperature — Learning how to measure temperature using a thermometer and how temperature changes over time, as well as the difference between Celsius and Fahrenheit, are part of weather lessons at this stage of kids' education.
- Precipitation — Young students learn about different types of precipitation — such as rain, snow, sleet and hail — and how they form in the atmosphere.
- Wind — Wind direction and speed, how wind is measured and how it affects the weather should all be covered before kids head off to secondary school.
- Clouds — From cumulus to strato-form, students learn about the different types of clouds and how they form plus how clouds affect the weather.
- Extreme Weather — Extreme weather events such as hurricanes, floods and thunderstorms are typically part of the science curriculum at this stage, and depending on where you are teaching instruction on how to stay safe during these events may well be on the agenda.
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Cloud Graphing Activity
A worksheet to use when graphing cloud observations.
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Printable Windsock Craft Template - Stars
Make a fun Windsock Craft to observe wind movement inside and outside the classroom.
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Hibernate, Migrate, or Adapt? Year 1 Animal Printables
Cut and sort animals that hibernate, migrate, and adapt with a Year 1 worksheet for science class.
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Seasons and Months Posters
Use these four months and the seasons posters to help your students to learn the seasons and their corresponding months.
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How Seasons Affect Plants and Animals Poster Set
Display these informative posters in your Grade One classroom to remind students of the five ways animals and plants adapt to seasonal changes in their environment.
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Characteristics of Seasons Interactive Activity
Use this activity-packed interactive resource to explore with your students the names and characteristics of summer, autumn, winter and spring!
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Seasonal Change Display Banner Lettering
Create a science display board for your Seasons unit, beginning with this visually engaging Seasonal Changes banner.
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Classroom Weather Chart for Identifying Environmental Conditions
Use this fun classroom weather chart in your morning meetings to help students visualise the weather and changes in the environment due to the changing seasons.
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Seasonal Changes in Plants Posters
Display these seasonal plants posters to show your students the variations in fruit, vegetable and plant growth across Earth’s four seasons.
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Season Characteristics Task Cards
Give your students the clues and watch them select the mystery season with this set of 24 task cards.
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What's the Season? Teaching Slides
Use this teaching presentation to help your students explore the four seasons and how they affect everyday life.
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Natural Disasters – Printable Puzzles
Match pictures and facts of various natural disasters with this set of printable science puzzles.
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Weather vs. Climate – Task Cards
Differentiate between weather and climate by answering questions and responding to writing prompts and with this set of 24 task cards.
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Types of Weather – Sorting Activity
Observe and categorise pictures showing different types of weather with this sorting activity.
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Weather Words – Worksheet Pack
A set of worksheets to use when teaching weather vocabulary to your students.
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Types of Clouds – Poster Pack
Learn about nimbus, cirrus, stratus, and cumulus clouds with this set of 4 printable cloud posters.
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Clouds and Their Position – Poster
Learn about the different types of clouds and their position within the atmosphere with this printable poster.
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Dress for the Weather Match-Up Activity
Identify proper clothing choices for different weather conditions with a clothing and climate matching activity.
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Winter Survival Adaptations - Sorting Activity
Match the animals with the behavioural adaptation that helps them survive the winter in this printable animal adaptation sorting activity.
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Animals in Winter - Hibernation Mini Book
Read and learn about animals that hibernate with a printable hibernation book for kids.
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Natural Disaster Word Wall Vocabulary
Use this teacher-created resource to explore natural disaster vocabulary with your primary school students.
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Seasons Affect Plants and Animals Flipbook
Use this fun flipbook to teach students how the seasons affect plants and animals while allowing them to connect to prior knowledge by answering questions on each page.
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Seasonal Cycle of a Tree Poster
Help your students investigate seasonal changes undertaken by trees throughout the year with this infographic-style poster.
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Order of Seasons Task Cards
Use these task cards to allow students to practise ordering images of seasonal changes across the year.
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Dressing for the Physical Environment Sorting Activity
Help children learn about dressing for the environment by sorting clothing items into categories for warm climate and cold climate.
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Types of Weather – Cut and Paste Worksheet
Use this cut-and-paste science worksheet to match a picture and description with each weather condition.
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Types of Weather Bingo
Identify basic weather vocabulary terms such as windy, cloudy, snowy, cold, etc., with an exciting game of Bingo!
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Weather Word Wall Vocabulary
Use this teacher-created weather resource to teach weather vocabulary. Build a weather word wall with your students during your weather lessons.
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Seasons of the Year Sorting Activity
Year 1 students can identify proper clothing, activities and objects for different types of weather with this four seasons activity.
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What to Wear Today? – Classroom Display
An interactive classroom display where students update the clothes the character is wearing each day based on the weather.