Windy weather attracts children's attention. Wind can be uncomfortable and scary or energising and exciting. It can dramatically change a child's environment and opportunities for play.
Extreme winds can cause natural disasters, including cyclones, hurricanes and tornadoes. Children in some areas of Australia may experience tropical cyclones. Safety preparations for strong winds are very normal in some communities.
Early childhood education services can incorporate wind into their learning programs. The Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF) learning outcomes encourage children to feel safe (1.1) and show respect for the environment (2.4).
Learning experiences
Watch fabric flap
Hang sheets of fabric in your outdoor area on a windy day. Young children will enjoy hiding and weaving through the fabric as it flaps around in the breeze. Ideally, use colourful or translucent sheets of fabric.
Catch the wind
Outside on a windy day, give a child a plastic bag. Ask them to hold a handle in each hand and turn around slowly. The wind will fill the bag and push it out in the same direction as it's blowing.
Observe the effects of wind
Children can't see the wind, but they can see what it does. Take a walk outside on a windy day and make a list of different ways the wind changes the environment.
Examples include:
- drying clothes on a washing line
- scattering leaves and seeds
- lifting up kites
- damaging things
- creating dust storms
- making noise
- changing the temperature.
Make windchimes
Windchimes can be made from things that make noise when they come into contact with each other (e.g. shells, cutlery, keys, tin cans, pine cones). Involve children in:
- researching ways to make windchimes
- designing and planning the construction of their windchimes
- testing out the noises made by various materials
- constructing and evaluating the final product (educators may need to help children with tasks like drilling holes and tying knots).
Fly kites
The simplest kite for children to make is a piece of paper attached to a piece of string. Involve children in cutting the paper, drawing decorations on their kites, and attaching the string with sticky tape.
Children can get movement from their kites by holding the end of the string and running around on a windy day.
Resources
Picture books
- Kate, Who Tamed The Wind by Liz Garton Scanlon and Lee White
- Ollie and the Wind by Ronojoy Ghosh
- Cyclone by Jackie French and Bruce Whatley
Websites
- Curious Kids: What makes the wind?
- National Geographic: What is wind?