How to make a Rain Gauge

This is the first of a series of weather science 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.

How to make a rain gauge

You’ll need

An empty jar or plastic bottle ( remove labels )

Permanent marker

Tape

Scissors

Ruler

Instructions

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

Jar Rain Gauge

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

Plastic Bottle Rain Gauge

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.

How to record the weather

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?

Free Rain Gauge Instructions Printable

More weather science activity ideas

We’ve got lots more weather science activity ideas here, including making a pinwheel, a storm in a jar and lots more.