Weather and Seasons: Making Change

Provide young people with opportunities to explore how they can use the power of the weather to save energy and water, e.g. collect rainwater, use wind to make propellers and grow plants in different seasons. This session can provide opportunities to think about how we can adapt and use changes in weather and climate during our daily lives.

This is recommended as session four in the Key Stage One Weather and Seasons unit of learning, supporting learners to understand how people make change in response to weather now and in the future.

< 30 minutes
KS1

Preparation

Green skills

  • Environmental Stewardship
  • Communication

Step by step

Quick Starter Activity

Use these two questions to help learners understand that seasons give us an idea of what weather we might expect, but that day-to-day weather might be different:

For each season, what do we expect? 
Spring might have some rain, some milder weather, plants and flowers beginning to grow; summer might be warm, autumn will have leaves change colour and fall and get a little colder, and winter is cold and may even snow.

For each season, what weather have we actually experienced? 
If your school can access BBC iPlayer, this episode of Jo Jo and Gran Gran (Series 1 – Spring 3: It’s Time to Check the Weather Forecast) is a great episode to highlight that, while weather can change quickly, as long as you are prepared, you can enjoy all weather types.

Main Activity Suggestions

Suggestion 1 (Outdoors / Indoors) 

Met Office: Make a windmill. Wind is used to power things. This fun activity supports learners to make their own windmill.

Suggestion 2 (Outdoors / Indoors)

Fruit Harvesting Calendar. As a class, make a fruit calendar to show the season when fruit is grown and harvested in the UK. You might even try some of the seasonal fruits, too!

Suggestion 3 (Outdoors) 

LtL: Recycled Planters. Use this primary design and technology activity to plan and create your own recycled planter. Prompt the class to think about weather information can help the children look after their plants. 

Top Tips

Use this information sheet about conserving water, adapted from the RHS Campaign for School Gardening, to think about how the class can save water in the school garden. 
 

Curriculum links