Let’s talk about teaching weather. Some topics are a breeze (pun intended!), like the water cycle. But when it comes to teaching global and local winds, things can get a little… gusty.
Suddenly, we are throwing terms like “Coriolis Effect,” “Trade Winds,” and “Sea Breeze” at our students, and their eyes start to glaze over. How do we make these invisible forces feel real? How do we help them understand that the wind hitting their face at the beach is connected to the same concepts as the giant wind belts circling the planet?
If you’ve been struggling to make your winds unit stick, here are three of my favorite, high-engagement strategies to bring these concepts to life in your classroom!
1. The “Convection Current” Demo
Before we can understand wind, we have to understand convection. This simple demo is a showstopper and a perfect hook for your lesson.
What you need:
- A large, clear container of water (a fish tank or large beaker works great).
- A heat source (like a hot plate or even a mug of boiling water placed under one side of the container).
- Ice.
- Food coloring (red and blue).
The magic: Place the heat source under one side of the water container and drop the ice on the other. Carefully add a few drops of red food coloring above the heat source and blue food coloring near the ice.
Your students will watch in amazement as the warm, red water rises and moves across the top, while the cold, blue water sinks and moves across the bottom, creating a visible cycle. It’s the perfect visual for explaining how unequal heating of the Earth creates wind!
2. The “Winds of the World” Labeling Challenge
Once they understand the why (convection), it’s time to tackle the where. I love using giant, collaborative maps for this.
Draw a large outline of the world on butcher paper or project a map onto a whiteboard. Give groups of students sticky notes with different labels and arrows: “Equator,” “North Pole,” “Trade Winds,” “Westerlies,” “Polar Easterlies,” etc.
Challenge them to place the labels and draw the wind arrows in the correct directions. It turns a dry diagramming activity into a collaborative puzzle. You can even add a competitive element by timing them!
3. The Ultimate Global & Local Winds Gallery Walk
This is my go-to strategy for tying it all together. It gets students out of their seats, combines reading with movement, and gives them a chance to be independent learners.
I recently started using this Global & Local Winds Gallery Walk, and it has been a fantastic addition to my unit.
Here is why it’s a breath of fresh air: Instead of me lecturing, students rotate through 5 different stations, each featuring a specific type of wind: Polar Easterlies, Westerlies, Trade Winds, Sea Breeze, and Land Breeze.
Each station has a short, easy-to-digest reading passage with a clear diagram. Students read the text and fill out a recording sheet with the wind’s name, a description, its direction, and its location. It’s a perfect way to reinforce reading for information skills while they learn science content.
Plus, it’s student-led and no-prep for you! Just print the posters, tape them up, and let them go. It’s a great opportunity for you to circulate and help students who need extra support.
You can grab this Global & Local Winds Gallery Walk activity here!
Making Invisible Forces Visible
Whether you are using food coloring to show convection or having students walk around the room to learn about the Westerlies, the goal is the same: to make these abstract concepts concrete.
Do you have a favorite activity for teaching about wind and weather? Share your ideas in the comments below—let’s help each other blow our students away with awesome lessons!