The Art of Clouds

UCAR Center for Science Education

This activity focuses on cloud identification and art. It combines art and science and uses art history to help students in their observations and cloud descriptions.

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Notes from our reviewers

The CLEAN collection is hand-picked and rigorously reviewed for scientific accuracy and classroom effectiveness. Read what our review team had to say about this resource below or learn more about how CLEAN reviews teaching materials.

This activity is simple if you have access to clouds on the day of the lesson, and includes a pre-made PowerPoint. However, teachers will want to plan for a day when the weather will allow for outdoor painting (not raining or super windy!). The activities could be repeated on days with different weather and different types of clouds. The activity could be supported by additional guidance from teachers, such as evaluation options, and additional strategies to guide students through the scientific inquiry process.
This resource focuses on clouds and cloud identification. Easy to use lesson with age-appropriate, credible sources (university and government-based). The Citizen Science link and links to other resources may help to provide content and background. Passed initial science review - expert science review pending.
The lessons get students excited from the beginning by showing pictures of clouds to pique students' curiosity to learn more and go outside and look at clouds. New vocabulary is highlighted in the lesson with links to learn more. The lesson includes hands-on art-based activities with a didactic approach at the start of each. Also included are several sources for visual aids, and it includes a Spanish option as well.