Nature Activity: Cloud Watching

     Think back on your childhood memories.  Which ones do you remember best and with the most fondness?  Nearly all of mine are outside and many of them feature someone I care about deeply.  One that I remember with much fondness is laying in the grass near my grandmas garden looking at the clouds.  How often do you look up?  How often does your child look up?
     For this activity you don't need anything except maybe a blanket and defiantly your imagination.  Take your child outside but be aware of the time of day nobody likes sun glaring in their eyes.  Lay on the grass or a blanket and look up at the clouds.  Talk about what you see, ask them what  they see.  This is a time to promote imagination!  
     After a lot of looking I found some great cloud books to help inspire imagination!  This isn't about learning the cloud names, its about promoting a love for the clouds that will later inspire them to learn the clouds names and so much more,

Cloudette is an adorable book about an adorable cloud!  She is a very small cloud and wants to do important things like the big clouds.  She gets thrust into a journey that helps her find a purpose, 

This book is particularly great for this activity because it can plant the idea of making shapes out of clouds to your child without you having to tell them.  The book is all about what the white patch on the page looks like, in the end you find out it is a cloud.

I bet some of you recognize this book!  This book has been read in schools for years now!  I have to say this is my favorite book for this activity out of all three.  It has the little cloud joining the big clouds for a storm (I love when science is represented indirectly in a story!), and then like spilt milk the clouds form shapes promoting the imagination to work for itself!

     Grab your blanket, books, water, and imagination and have a great time!

Let me know what you find in the clouds!