A weather game with a cloud for a friend

What your child learns

Weather is a science topic children can check for themselves. They see the rain, feel the wind and get cold hands in the snow. The game gives those moments words and reasons.

Children learn eight kinds of weather, from sunshine to fog to a thunderstorm. They follow the water cycle by filling a cloud until it rains. They sort pictures into spring, summer, fall and winter, and pick the right clothes for hot, rainy and snowy days.

Choosing clothes means linking two things: what the weather is doing, and what each piece of clothing is for. Every wrong choice comes back with a reason.

• Eight weather words, from sunny and cloudy to fog and thunderstorm
• The water cycle: water rises, makes a cloud and falls as rain
• The four seasons and what belongs to each
• Matching clothes to the weather, and saying why
• Staying safe: in a thunderstorm, we go inside

Why we made this game

Children ask weather questions with great seriousness. Where does rain come from? Why can't I play outside in a storm? Will it snow tomorrow? We wanted calm, true answers from a friendly character.

That character is Nimbo, a little cloud. At the weather station, your child taps a kind of weather, watches it happen outside and hears it explained out loud.

Thunderstorms got special care, because loud noises like thunder can be scary for children. In the game, your child is safe inside during the storm, and the game counts one, two, three after the flash. The message is simple: we stay inside, and the storm will pass.

What children love about it

Making rain is a big moment. Children drag little wisps of water up into the cloud, which grows bigger and grayer until it is full. One tap, and it rains on the garden, and the flowers grow.

Getting dressed is full of funny moments. Drag sandals to a snowy day and they fly back with a reason: your toes would get ice cold. A woolly hat on a hot day? Your head would get much too warm.

Sorting the seasons is calmer. A tulip goes to spring, an ice cream to summer, a pumpkin to fall and a sled to winter.

The quiz ends in a garden. Every right answer is a raindrop, and Nimbo waters the flowers with them. Even with no right answers, Nimbo is glad your child played.

How to play it together

Start the day at the window. Ask what the weather is doing and what your child will need to wear. Later, play the dressing game and compare the answers.

After the rain screen, show a real cloud step at home. After a warm shower, the bathroom mirror fogs up: water vapor in the warm air touches the cool glass and turns into tiny drops. High in the sky, rising air cools and its water vapor turns into tiny drops too. That is a cloud.

If a real storm comes, use the counting from the game. Count slowly after each flash while you stay indoors. The National Weather Service is clear: there is no safe place outside when thunderstorms are around.