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Making a Rain Gauge

Type of Activity:
Demonstration: Observable action or process that provides visual answers to questions.

Activity Overview:
There are many types of rain gauges available today, but they all do basically the same thing: measure
liquid precipitation. In this activity, you will teach the students about rain gauges (different types and how
they work) and show them how to make one themselves.

Target Grade Level: 2-5

Time: 30 minutes

Learning Objectives:
Students will: Observe demonstration
Analyze the information from the rain gauge
Draw conclusions about how the rain gauge works

Supplies:
1 Liter soft drink bottle (You can have each student bring one in from home, or just use
one to demonstrate the activity)
Scissors
Tape
Scale labels (Weve included one sheet of scale labels on the following page. If you need to make
more, copy the template onto a blank sheet of standard Avery Address Labels (#5160)

Activity Procedure:
The process for making a homemade rain gauge in this activity is on the following page. The WeatherBug
Tracking Station has a tipping bucket rain gauge that automatically empties itself and digitally measures
the rain. Many students parents may have a simpler rain gauge that consists of a plastic cylinder.

Questions for Discussion:


What does a rain gauge do? Can it measure snow?

Answers to Discussion Questions:


Rain gauges measure liquid precipitation - rain.
Explain that rain gauges come in several forms. Ask the students if they have a rain gauge at
home. If they do, ask them to explain what it looks like and how it works (the typical home rain
gauge is a plastic cylinder with a ruler etched into it that must be emptied after each use).
The WeatherBug Tipping Bucket Rain Gauge is a fancier rain gauge. If you have one available
to bring with you, unscrew the top and bottom pieces to expose the tipping bucket to show
students how it works: each bucket holds 0.01 of water (anything less is called a trace) so
every time the bucket fills up and tips over, 0.01 of rain is recorded. The nice thing about the
tipping bucket rain gauge is that it empties itself!
Interesting side note: the approved way to measure snowfall is to use a ruler and measure the
snow depth in 10 places and take the average a great math project in itself!
Making a Rain Gauge:
Show students how they can make their own rain gauges using plastic soda bottles (see diagram below):

Cut off the top of the bottle with scissors.


Insert the top into the base (it will act as a funnel).
Tape the two exposed edges together.
Stick a scale label to the bottle. The 0 line should be at the ridge on the bottle 1.5
inches above the base (scale labels follow this page).
Fill the rain gauge with water to the 0 mark to prevent the gauge from tipping over. After
rain has fallen, read off the amount from the scale, then empty the gauge and refill to the 0
mark again.

How can teachers use this activity in WeatherBug Achieve?


Activities/Lessons: MS-09 Investigating Dew Point
EY-04 Flash Floods MS-11 Moisture in the Air
EY-08 Primary Rainbows MS-16 Storms and Fronts
EY-10 Rain, Rain, Rain! MS-20 Types of Clouds
EY-14 Snow, Snow, Snow MS-21 The Water Cycle
EY-23 The Water Cycle HS-04 Cloud Classification
ES-14 Rainbows HS-07 Dew Point
ES-24 What is a Thunderstorm? HS-17 Relative Humidity

Tools: Weather Observations DataCam Storm Display

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