IT LOOKS LIKE …
Read to children It Looked Like Spilt Milk, by Charles G. Shaw. Then give each child a piece of blue drawing paper. Clip a cotton ball onto the end of a clip-type clothespin. Let children dip the cotton ball into white paint to create clouds pictures on their papers. Encourage children to create clouds that look like something else (pig, dog, and so on). Finally, help children complete this sentence on their papers: My cloud(s) looks like __________________.

CLOUDS AND WIND
Explain that when the wind blows, it can move the clouds. Children will enjoy using straws to see how far they can blow clouds (cotton balls) across a table. If you wish, create a graph for children to show how far some “clouds” were “blown.”

A CLOUDY STORY AND SNACK
Read to children The Cloud Book by Tomie DePaola. Talk about the names of some kinds of clouds and invite children to choose a favorite one. Next, mix white Elmer’s glue with shaving cream and invite children to use it to finger paint their favorite kind of cloud onto a piece of blue paper. (You should get a puffy effect from the mixture.) Finally, serve meringue drop cookies for a snack as you display children’s artwork.

PUPPET CLOUDS
Cut out cloud shapes (about 7 by 7 inches) from sturdy white paper and let children glue cotton balls or marshmallows onto one side. Help children glue a large craft stick onto the back side of each cloud shape. Children can use their cloud puppets as they sing cloud songs or recite cloud rhymes such as our Cloud Parade (found above).

WORD CORNER
Here are some words you will need. See them, say them … hey, you can read! sky  clouds  shapes

Write the words on a chart and review them. Read each sentence aloud. Try each word in each sentence.
Let children tell you which word fits.

1. What ________ do you see in the clouds?. (shapes)
2. Sometimes____________ look like soft cotton. (clouds
3. Today the __________ is bright blue. (sky)

Cloud Parade

See the clouds
As they go by,
In the bright
Blue, sunny sky.

See their shapes,
How do they look?
Like ice cream cones?
Or fishing hooks?

Perhaps you see
A dog or cat,
Or a rabbit
With a hat.

Stop and sit,
Look carefully.
Clouds on parade
For you and me!