Clouds are fluffy shapes in the sky, but they are not made of cotton or smoke. They are made of many tiny drops of water floating in the air. Learning about clouds and rain helps children understand where puddles, plants, and drinking water can come from.
A simple cloud and raindrop picture shows an important part of the water cycle.
Key Facts
- Clouds are made of tiny water drops or tiny ice crystals.
- Water vapor cools and changes into tiny liquid drops to help form clouds.
- Tiny drops can join together to make bigger drops.
- When water drops get too heavy to stay in a cloud, they fall as rain.
- Rain helps fill lakes, rivers, soil, and puddles.
- More tiny drops joining together can mean bigger raindrops.
Vocabulary
- Cloud
- A cloud is a group of tiny water drops or ice crystals floating in the sky.
- Raindrop
- A raindrop is a drop of water that falls from a cloud.
- Water vapor
- Water vapor is water in the air as an invisible gas.
- Condensation
- Condensation is when water vapor cools and changes into tiny liquid water drops.
- Precipitation
- Precipitation is water that falls from clouds, such as rain, snow, sleet, or hail.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
- Thinking clouds are made of cotton. Clouds are made of tiny water drops or ice crystals, not soft fabric.
- Thinking rain falls because clouds break open. Rain falls when water drops in the cloud join together and become heavy enough to fall.
- Thinking every cloud makes rain right away. Some clouds have drops that are still too small and light to fall.
- Thinking raindrops start out huge. Raindrops often begin as very tiny drops that bump into other drops and grow.
Practice Questions
- 1 A small cloud picture has 8 tiny water drops inside it, and 5 more drops join them. How many tiny water drops are in the cloud now?
- 2 Three small drops join together to make one bigger drop. If 12 small drops join in groups of 3, how many bigger drops can form?
- 3 A cloud has many tiny water drops, but no rain is falling yet. Explain what must happen to the drops before rain can fall.