Graph the temperature where you live!
Have you ever heard of a temperature blanket? It’s a neat way to graph the average temperature every day for a whole year and looks cool when displayed too! This activity is a great way to introduce graphing, temperatures and the term “averages” to young children, plus it looks super cool once it’s filled to the top!
📊Look at this graph! If your child is showing a lot of interest in this activity, consider doing this with other daily changes such as weather (sunny days, cloudy days, etc.) over the course of a week or month. Check out our activity HERE for inspiration!
🚂 Stay on track! It might be hard for younger children to visualize what the finished product will look like after a period of time, so show them some inspiration online to keep them motivated to complete their graph and add a scoop of rice every day!
🌎 Where in the world? Depending where you live, the temperature may not fluctuate as much. Consider completing this activity over the course of a year instead or create a small temperature range (1-2 degrees versus 5 degree range).
Materials
For this activity you will need:
Thin clear jar or container
2-3 cups rice
Food coloring
Rubbing alcohol
Small sealable containers or bags
Pencil crayons/crayons/markers
Spoon
Free temperature graph printable
Learning Outcomes
Domain
Cognitive
Skills
Collecting and organizing information
Indicators:
Describing and comparing data on graphs and in surveys
Instructions
Step 1:
Color your rice or sand using food coloring and alcohol. You can do this by separating your rice/sand into several small bags and adding a couple drops of food coloring and a couple drops of rubbing alcohol into each bag. You’ll want to have a gradient of colors for this, so several shades of red, orange, yellow, etc. Shake the bags of rice/sand to mix and coat all of the grains of rice/sand and let it dry overnight
Step 2:
Once dry, dish out the rice/sand into small bowls to store them in over the course of this activity.
Step 3:
Print out our free printable and record the temperature in your area for a specific length of time (week, month etc).
Step 4:
Designate a color of rice/sand for each temperature/temperature range based on how many rice colors you have available.
Step 5:
Pour a specified amount of rice/sand into your container based on your temperature graph recorded. For example one spoonful of rice/sand per day. Eventually, a gradient of color will start to emerge filling up your container!
After you are done filling up your bottle of sand you will see a representation of weather patterns and color changes for your particular area!
⬆️ For older preschoolers: Explore how a thermometer works and how to use it!
⬇️ For younger toddlers: Younger toddlers may have more fun mixing the rice/sand than looking at numbers and recording it. Lean into this and explore color mixing with the different colors instead!
Playful Questions
How many days was the temperature below/above ___?
Do you notice any patterns with our rice/sand?
Do you notice any weird temperature changes with our rice/sand?
What would our container look like if we continued to fill it up every day for a longer period of time?
What is your favorite temperature/color?
