Make a Tornado

Make a Tornado

I love used book sales!  I came across one at a local church and all the kids book are 50 cents!  Since my daughter loves thunder storms, I picked up the book Storms by Seymour Simon



And it was really great at teaching her about all the different types of storms and what causes them, and also covers safety in various scenarios.  As my husband read to her about tornados, I remembered a simple activity from when I was a kid...making a tornado in a bottle.

I think this might work better with a smaller water bottle, but we happened to have this 2 liter of diet coke from when my father in law was here (he loves it), it's a little too big for J to easily whirl around to get the tornado action, but every morning this week she still runs over and starts playing with it trying to get the tornado going.

To make a Tornado in a bottle, just fill an empty clear bottle 2/3 the way full.  Add in some glitter or confetti.  Screw the lid on tight, turn up-side down and then move the top in a circular motion as fast as you can and watch a tornado form.  The glitter or confetti makes it easier to see the swirling motion and you can point out that the glitter/confetti or whatever are like all the things that a tornado might pick up like bikes, lawn chairs, cars, etc.