3 Weather Themed Crafts

by Lynn Lilly, Mar 06 2023

Spring is always filled with crazy weather in the South. One day it's hot, then it's cold and the next it's a thunderstorm with a tornado warning or it's a sunny day and five minutes later is humid and raining. The weather can definitely be unpredictable. Get your kiddos interested in the weather with three fun weather crafts for the whole family.

This week on my Crayola Facebook live broadcast I shared a DIY forecast board that is sure to get the kids excited about predicting the weather (who knows they might be more accurate than the local weather person), a DIY sunny doormat and a salt art weather collage.

All the Crayola products I used today can be purchased from Crayola.com

Project 1: Weather Forecast Board

Materials:

Foam Board
White Felt
Crayola Construction Paper
Crayola Washable Glue
Crayola Markers
Velcro
Foam Sticker Letters
Pom Pom Trim (optional)
Laminator and Laminating Sheets (optional)
Scissors
2 Paper Plates

Directions:

Start with a piece of foam board. The piece I used was left over from another project and happened to be 22" x 14" and was the perfect size. You use any board size.
Take a large piece of white felt. Cut it to the size of the board leaving an inch boarder around the board. Place the board face down on the felt. Apply glue to the back of the board and fold the edges of the felt over and hold in place until the glue is tacky enough to stick. If you don't wan to hold in place, use clothes pins to hold in place until dry.
Once dry flip over. You can add pom pom or decorative trim to the top and the bottom of the board if you want to jazz it up.
Stick foam letters across the top spelling out "Forecast" and "Today" along the left side and "Tomorrow" along the right side. You can also personalize it by adding a name in front of "Forecast".
Using the construction paper and markers, draw and create the different weather elements. Sun, clouds, lighting, wind, a rainbow, tornado, snow, snowman, hurricane, dust store, rain, etc.
Cut out each weather element and decorate with markers.
If you want the pieces to be more durable and you have access to a laminator I would suggest laminating them and cutting them out.
Next apply velcro to the back of element. If you have sticky back velcro it should adhere to the laminated or non-laminated element. If not use the liquid glue to glue to the back of the element.
Stick it to the board to create your weather predictions. This can fun for the whole family.
If you need somewhere to store the elements not in use, take two paper plates, cut one in half and discard one half. Glue the half of the paper plate facing down on to the other plate to create a pocket. You can tack or glue this to the bottom or corner of the weather board.

For a fun family game you can keep track of the accuracy of the weather predictions for everyone in the family.

Project 2: Sunny Front Door Mat

Materials:

National Coir All Weather Doormat (available ad Hardware and Home Stores for around $10)
Crayola Acrylic Paint (Orange and Yellow)
Foam Brushes
Painters Tape
Paper Plates

Directions:

Place a paper plate face down on the doormat. Pour yellow paint on another paper plate.
Use the foam brush to dab yellow paint around the plate to create the center circle of the sun.
Remove the plate and use the foam brush to fill in the sun. Dabbing the paint verses brushing it. I had to do about 3 coats of dabbing because the mat absorbed so much of the paint.
Use the painters tape to tape off sunshine rays around the sun. Use the foam brush to dab the paint and create the rays.
Add a second section of sunshine rays that are different lengths and paint them orange.
Remove the painters tape when dry.

DIY Sunshine Doormat

Make sure the mat is completely dry before using. Mine took 24 hours to try completely! This mat is the perfect sunny welcome to any home.

Project 3: Salt Art Weather Collage

Materials:

Crayola Activity Canvas
Crayola Markers (non-washable, I used Crayola Permanent Take Note Markers)
Crayola Washable Liquid Glue
Crayola Watercolor Paint & Brush
Table Salt (or sugar if you don't have salt)
Pencil
Cup of water

Directions:

Use a pencil to draw a bunch of different weather elements around the canvas.
Include a snowman, clouds, snow, rain drops, a tornado, rainbow, lighting, and sunshine.
Trace the lines of the tornado, half the snowflakes and raindrops and the sun with the liquid glue.
Sprinkle salt so it fully covers all the glue lines.
Shake the excess salt off the canvas.
Dip your brush in the water and get the yellow watercolor paint wet. Take the brush and lightly touch it the sun salt line and watch the color spread through the salt. Continue to do this for the sun, adding as many different colors as you like.
Switch colors for the tornado, snowflakes and raindrops.
Trace and color the remaining elements with markers.