Science for Preschoolers – What is Wind?

Description: Easy preschool science experiments that help your child understand the nature of the wind.

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Wind is exciting for preschoolers to watch. It blows tree branches back and forth and chases dried leaves across the yard. Wind can also be fun to listen to – it howls, whispers and whistles. A fun preschool activity is to pretend to be the wind – but make sure there are no breakables in the area first!

Here are some easy preschool science experiments to help your child understand that wind is moving air and that air is all around us, even when we can’t see it move.

Air Takes Up Space

Here is a science experiment to show your preschooler air takes up space, even when we can’t see it.

What You Need:

2 paper napkins
Drinking glass
Deep bowl filled with water

What You Do:

Ask your preschooler what he thinks will happen if he puts a paper napkin into a bowl of water. Have him try it to see if his guess was correct.

Now, tell your child you’re going to put a paper napkin in the water and, this time, it won’t get wet.

Crumple up the paper napkin and push it to the bottom of a drinking glass.

Fill the bowl with enough water to cover the glass.

Turn the glass upside down and push it straight down into the water, so the rim of the glass touches the bottom of the bowl. Without tipping the glass, quickly pull the glass back out of the water.

Ask your preschooler to take the napkin out of the glass. The napkin is dry!

Why does your child think the napkin didn’t get wet, even though it was in the water?

You can explain that no water could get into the glass because the glass was already filled with air. Air takes up space so the water couldn’t get in and make the napkin wet.

We Can Feel Air Move

Explain to your preschooler that air is all around us, and we can feel it move on a windy day.

What You Need:

Bubble solution (recipe below)
Bubble wands
Windy day

What You Do:

Take your preschooler outside on a windy day. Bring along the bubble solution and bubble wands.

Blow bubbles together, and watch where the wind takes them!

Wind makes the bubbles move. Which direction is the wind blowing today?

Recipe for Bubble Solution

1/2 cup dishwashing liquid (Joy works best)
4 1/2 cups water
4 tablespoons glycerin
A large covered container

Mix the dishwashing detergent, water, and glycerin in a large container. Keep the mixture covered until you’re ready to use.

When it’s time to blow bubbles, pour some bubble solution into a shallow container. Dip bubble wands into the solution and blow. If you don’t have bubble wands, cookie cutters work well too.

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