Weather Games for Kids: Weather Lab
Weather Lab is a free interactive weather game for kids. Slide the temperature, the humidity, the wind and the sunshine, and watch clouds form, rain and snow fall, puddles dry up and rainbows appear, with a one-sentence explanation of every change.
Weather Lab
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- Ages
- 5–11
- School years
- Senior Infants–5th Class
- Skills
- The water cycle: evaporation, condensation, precipitation and collection, How temperature decides between rain and snow, What humidity is and how clouds form
- Time
- 2–5 minutes a round
- Cost
- Free, no sign-up
- Updated
How to play Weather Lab
- Press Free play lab to experiment, or choose a set of challenges: Easy, Medium or Hard.
- Move the Temperature, Humidity, Wind and Sunshine sliders, or tap a season. The thermometer and the rain gauge show what is happening, and the lab notes explain it.
- Each challenge gives you a goal, such as “Make it snow” or “Fill the rain gauge to 20 mm”. Change the weather until it happens. Stuck? Press Hint, or Show me to watch the sliders move.
- Easy includes a dress-for-the-weather game and Medium a water-cycle labelling game: drag each word to where it happens, or tap a word and then a box. Every set ends with a weather quiz. Finish without hints for 3 stars.
What your child learns
- The water cycle: evaporation, condensation, precipitation and collection
- How temperature decides between rain and snow
- What humidity is and how clouds form
- What makes a rainbow, a thunderstorm, hail and a blizzard
- Reading a thermometer and a rain gauge
- Seasons, and choosing the right clothes for the weather
About Weather Lab
Weather happens all around us, but the science behind it is invisible. Weather Lab makes it visible. Turn up the humidity and clouds build up as the water vapour condenses; keep going and the heavy clouds start to rain. Slide the temperature to freezing and the rain turns to snow, which piles up on the roofs and trees and melts into puddles when it warms up again. Hot, very humid air builds a towering thunderstorm with lightning and hail, snow with gale-force wind becomes a blizzard, and sunshine and rain together paint a rainbow opposite the Sun.
Every change comes with one short, kid-friendly sentence, so children connect what they see with words like evaporation, condensation and precipitation. Easy challenges, for Senior Infants to 1st Class, ask children to make rain, snow, a rainbow and strong wind, then dress a child for hot, rainy, snowy and windy days. Medium challenges, for Classes 2–3, ask children to measure 20 mm of rain, dry the puddles, build a thunderstorm and melt the snow, then label the water cycle. Hard challenges, for Classes 4–5, cover hail, freezing, blizzards and how wind and warmth dry things even without sunshine. Each set finishes with a short quiz that explains every answer.
Which level should my child play?
| School year | Suggested level |
|---|---|
| Senior Infants | Easy |
| 1st Class | Easy |
| 2nd Class | Medium |
| 3rd Class | Medium |
| 4th Class | Hard |
| 5th Class | Hard |
Move up a level after getting three stars two or three times in a row.
🏆 Leaderboard
Full leaderboard →Play a round to get on the board! Create a free account to save your scores.
Frequently asked questions
How does a rainbow form?
Sunlight looks white but is a mix of every colour. When it shines into raindrops, each drop bends the light, reflects it and splits it into red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet. You see a rainbow when the Sun is behind you and rain is falling in front of you, which is why the game needs both sunshine and rain.
What are the four stages of the water cycle?
Evaporation: the Sun heats water and it rises as invisible water vapour. Condensation: the vapour cools and forms tiny droplets that make clouds. Precipitation: water falls as rain, snow, sleet or hail. Collection: the water gathers in rivers, lakes and the sea, ready to go round again.
What is humidity?
Humidity is how much water vapour is in the air. You cannot see water vapour, but very humid air feels damp and sticky. When humid air cools, the vapour condenses into droplets, which is how clouds, fog and dew form.
Why does it snow instead of rain?
Snow forms when the air in and below the cloud is freezing, at about 0°C (32°F) or colder. The water in the cloud forms tiny ice crystals that join together into snowflakes. If the air near the ground is warmer, the snowflakes melt on the way down and fall as rain.
What causes thunder and lightning?
In a tall storm cloud, rising air makes ice and water bump together, which builds up electricity. Lightning is a giant spark of that electricity. It heats the air so quickly that the air bursts outwards with a boom: that is thunder. Light travels much faster than sound, so you see the flash before you hear the thunder.
Why does the game use millimetres for rain?
Weather scientists in most countries measure rainfall with a rain gauge in millimetres (in the United States, often in inches). 20 mm of rain means that, if none of it soaked away or ran off, the water would be 20 mm deep.
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Help your child shine in school
Practice at home is a great start. Success Tutoring offers personalised tutoring to build skills and confidence.