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How to make a Rain Gauge

September 22, 2011 By Emma Vanstone 17 Comments

This is the first of a series of weather related posts. We are going to start by finding out how to make a rain gauge. I did this a few weeks ago with my three children and they love going outside every day to see how much it has rained. It has definitely helped my 2 year old learn to recognise numbers as well.

What you need:

An empty jar or plastic bottle ( remove labels )

Permanent marker

Tape

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Scissors

Ruler

Instructions

There are two ways to make the rain gauge, either by using an empty jar or a plastic bottle.

Jar

Place the ruler on the side of the jar and mark in cm up the side.

Plastic Bottle

Cut the top off the bottle, and place upside down inside the main body. Get an adult to help as the edges might be sharp.

Place a ruler on the side of the bottle and mark in cm up the side.

Bury the bottle outside, it should be in an open area and away from any trees which might trap some of the rain. Leave the top sticking out. We didn’t bury ours very well, you might want to put yours further into the ground.

DSC_0008

The Science Bit

The important part of recording the weather is that is needs to be done frequently. You should record the amount of rain in the bottle/jar each day and empty out the rain each time.

Can you design a table to record the results?

Rain Gauge

Free Rain Gauge Instructions Printable

 

How to make a Rain Gauge

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Filed Under: Early Years Science, Key Stage 1 Science, Preschool Science, Scientific Enquiry, Seasonal Changes, Understanding of the World, Weather Science Experiments Tagged With: Rain Gauge, record rainfall, weather, weather pre school

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. The Mad House

    September 22, 2011 at 3:30 pm

    I made these with the boys a couple of years back and they loved them. We put the markings on a spoon as they could lift them out to check, which was easier for them

    Reply
  2. ScienceSparks

    September 22, 2011 at 7:54 pm

    That is a fantastic idea! Thank you. x

    Reply
  3. Phyllis at All Things Beautiful

    September 25, 2011 at 5:27 pm

    Oh, I want to make this!

    Reply
    • ScienceSparks

      September 26, 2011 at 2:25 pm

      Let us know how you get on!

      Reply
  4. Michele

    September 27, 2011 at 7:14 am

    My son would so want to do this! thank you for the idea and instructions!!

    Reply
  5. Liberty

    September 27, 2011 at 2:40 pm

    Neat! We did a bottle outdoors to see how much rain… it filled all the way up. Too much rain 🙂 I like this one better, I think we’ll add this in soon. Thanks for sharing.

    Visiting from Science Sunday!

    Reply
  6. maggy, red ted art

    September 28, 2011 at 1:34 pm

    *One Day* I will make a WHOLE weather station with the kids…

    Thank you for liking to Kids Get Crafty!

    Maggy

    Reply
    • ScienceSparks

      September 29, 2011 at 6:12 pm

      I am trying to make a whole weather station 🙂

      Reply
  7. Aimee

    September 29, 2011 at 12:58 am

    Always finding something interesting on your site- love it! Thank you so much for linking up to The Sunday Showcase.

    Reply
    • ScienceSparks

      September 29, 2011 at 6:11 pm

      I’m so glad you like it. x

      Reply
  8. Kim @ Learning Hypothesis

    October 2, 2011 at 12:21 pm

    Thanks for the idea. We are started nature study today and this will be a nice addition.

    Reply

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