Learning Activity: How the Wind Blows
Many children are familiar with the old nursery rhyme that teaches some elementary rules of nature—but most students don’t know how much wind force affects how much the cradle will rock (or how much bending and weight before the bough will break). Here’s an activity that gives your young learner a way to develop his own measurement tool for describing wind force.
Materials
- Two paper plates, two paper cups with handles
- Long stick
- Ruler and magic marker
- Upholstery tack or small nail
- Stapler and glue
- Watch or clock with second hand
- Science notebook for recording results
Getting Ready
On windy days, talk with your child about what can be seen (or heard, or felt) that gives some indication of how strong the wind is blowing. Look in the weather section of the newspaper for reports on wind velocity. Do this activity during or after a stormy period when your child’s interest in the wind’s power is likely to be high.
Help your child assemble the materials he’ll need for making his wind measuring machine. Then assist him as needed in the following steps.
Activity: How the Wind Blows
- Glue two or more paper plates together so that they make a rigid disk. Use the ruler to find the exact center of the disk and poke a small hole through it. Use the ruler to draw lines dividing the disk into four equal sections, each line passing through the center point.
- Use the magic marker to color one of the cups so that it looks very different from the other three. Staple the handles of each cup on to the disk at one of the four places where your pencil lines meet the edge of the disk. Make sure that all four cups face the same direction around the edge.
- Stick the tack through the hole and attach the disk to the edge of one end of the dowel. Spin the disk to make sure that the tack is secure but not so tight that the disk does not spin easily. Plant the stick in the ground, or in some other way securely place it upright where the wind can blow it. Turn it as needed until it catches the wind and the cups begin turning the disk.
- Watch the cups turn. Using a clock’s second hand, you and your child can take turns counting revolutions per minute, by counting each time the market cup passes the dowel at the bottom of the turn.
Pick a special time of day, such as before supper, to count and record the wind speed. Record the time and the speed. When the wind blows (at any time of the day) is also a good time to go out and clock it. Encourage your child to always write down the date and the time as well as the wind speed.