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Weather facts, photos, videos, and experiments

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Weather facts, photos, videos, and experiments

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Natural Disasters for Kids | Names, Facts, Examples and Types of Natural Disasters for Children

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Learn Weather and Natural Disasters Vocabulary through Pictures.

Weather is the state of the atmosphere, describing for example the degree to which it is hot or cold, wet or dry, calm or stormy, clear or cloudy.

A natural disaster is a major adverse event resulting from natural processes of the Earth; examples include floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, tsunami, and other geologic processes.

You can jump to any section of this lesson:

Weather and Natural Disasters Vocabulary

Life is like a rainbow. You don't always know what's on the other side, but you know it's there.

Her skin was as white as snow.

Traffic was dislocated by the snowstorm.

The avalanche struck the ski resort in the late afternoon.

The flood came about as a result of the heavy spring rains.

The house was buried beneath a landslide.

A lightening splits the dark sky.

Thousands of buildings collapsed in the earthquake.

A cigarette spark started the forest fire.

The fog was so thick that I could not see my way.

After a storm comes a calm.

The place was recently visited by a serious volcanic eruption.

The drought did a lot of harm to the crops.

Rain before seven; fine before eleven.

The drizzle had now stopped and the sun was breaking through.

The explosion ripped through the hotel.

Weather and Natural Disasters Vocabulary | Picture

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Weather and Natural Disasters Vocabulary in English | 7 E S L

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Learn Weather and Natural Disasters Vocabulary through Pictures. Weather is the state of the atmosphere, describing for example the degree to which it is hot or cold, wet or dry, calm or stormy, clear or cloudy. A natural disaster is a major adverse event resulting from natural processes of the Earth; examples include floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, tsunami, and other geologic processes.

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Recently, we have been investigating some of Earth's most destructive forces by exploring natural disaster science activities! No matter where you live, you have probably had to brace or prepare for a natural disaster in your lifetime. For instance, because we live in California, earthquakes are always going to be at the forefront of our news cycle. Those of you on the East Coast know that hurricanes are a possibility every year. Teaching children about how and why these disasters occur is very important. We find that discussing ways to prepare and stay safe takes some of the fear out of these situations.

One way to introduce natural disasters to your science curriculum is to give your students the opportunity to observe these forces with actual hands on science experiments. They get to see science in action instead of just reading about it! The four activities we are about to share with you can all be easily done in both the home and classroom setting. Best of all, you probably have most of the materials already! They can be done before or after introducing natural disasters to your little scientists.

Natural Disaster Science Activities

1. Tornado in a Jar
What You Need:

clear plastic or glass jar

water

food coloring

dish soap

glitter, sequins, or tiny pieces of foil (to act as "debris" or surface objects)

Directions:
First, fill a clear jar with water. Then, add 1-2 drops of dish soap. The dish soap is important since it makes the funnel shape easier to see. After that, add 3-4 drops of food coloring. We used blue food coloring but any color is fine! Now comes the fun part...hold the jar upright and shake it in a rotating, circular motion. Your students will see a mini "tornado" forming. Finish the observation by having students add some glitter, sequins or tiny pieces of foil in the jar. Close the jar, have them shake it again in a rotating, circular motion and watch as the "tornado" lifts the "debris" off the ground!

2. Hurricane in a Bowl
What You Need: Directions:
Start this activity by filling a clear, large bowl 3/4 full of water. Then, use a spoon to stir the water in a circular motion until it is spinning. Spin the water counterclockwise to mimic the rotation of the winds in the Northern Hemisphere or clockwise to mimic the rotation of the winds in the Southern Hemisphere. Finally, quickly add 2-3 drops of food coloring to the center of the bowl. You will see a hurricane shape start to form. Watch as the "hurricane" starts out strong and slowly starts to dissipate as it looses energy over time!

Hurricane in a Bowl

3. Erupting Volcano
What You Need:

baking pan

homemade or store-bought play dough or molding clay

baking soda

vinegar

red food coloring

teaspoon

small measuring cup

Directions:
Begin by building and shaping a volcano on a baking pan using modeling clay or dough. The baking pan is important because it will catch the "lava" to prevent spills and make clean up easier. Next, make an indentation at the top of the volcano to create the opening "vent". Then, put one teaspoon of baking soda into the top of the volcano "vent". In a measuring cup, mix about a ¼ cup of vinegar with 2-3 drops of red food coloring. Slowly pour the vinegar mix into the baking soda and watch the "lava" come oozing out of the vent!

Erupting Volcano Science

4. Earthquake Shake Table
What You Need:

2 sheets of thick cardboard

2 large rubber bands (elastic)

4 tennis balls (or similar sized balls)

construction materials such as building bricks, play dough, toothpicks, popsicle sticks, wooden blocks

Directions:
This is a really fun STEM challenge for your little engineers! Begin by layering two cardboard pieces on top of each other and place rubber bands around them. Then, slide the tennis balls between the cardboard pieces near each of the four corners. Next, have your students brainstorm model ideas for a secure design. Once they have a design in mind, use the desired construction materials to create a building. Our kids love using building bricks so of course they chose that! Place the building on top of the shake table. Finally, test the earthquake safeness by holding the bottom of the shake table and pulling & releasing one corner on the top. Repeat this step a few times using different amounts of force. You will notice how the building bounces around as you pull and release a few times. Did your building withstand the shaking?

Looking for more natural disaster science activities?

If you want your students to dig deeper into the wonders of natural disasters and how they shape our amazing Earth, check out our mega bundle that covers earthquakes, hurricanes, volcanoes and tornadoes.

While you're here, discover more Earth Science & Geography freebies & ideas that your students will LOVE. Enjoy!

FREE Treasure Hunt Map Skills & Landforms Activity

Google Earth™ Field Trip

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Natural Disaster Science Activities for Kids - CURRICULUM CASTLE

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Easy and fun natural disaster science activities for kids that explores hands on experiments for tornado, hurricane, volcano and earthquake!