Hi! I shared this rain cloud in a jar experiment on my Instagram, and thought it would be fun to share it here too! It’s a very easy science experiment and you probably already have everything you need at home!
This rain cloud in a jar activity is such a fun and easy way to see how rain works! To make it more fun, explain what you are going to do, then have your child fill out this Cloud in a Jar worksheet to see if their predictions are correct!
SUPPLIES:
- glass mason jar
- gel food coloring
- shaving cream
- water
- Pipette or eye dropper
DIRECTIONS:
- In a small glass mix gel food coloring and water until it’s the color you want. (We used a few colors just to make it more exciting!)
- Fill a separate glass jar 3/4 of the way with water.
- Fill the rest of the jar with shaving cream.
- Use an eye dropper to drop the colored water on top of the shaving cream.
- Wait and watch as the food coloring goes through the shaving cream, and falls out the bottom much like rain!
HOW CLOUDS WORK:
Clouds are formed when water vapor rises into the air. When the vapor hits cold air, it turns back into droplets of water. Those tiny drops of water floating in the air collect and “stick” together to form clouds. When clouds get so full of water that they can’t hold any more, the water falls back to the ground as rain!
I hope you enjoy this quick little science experiment! We had a lot of fun watching our cloud rain!