How it Plays

Cut a 6-by-18-inch rectangle out of colored construction paper (but don't use blue, because it won't show up well against the sky). Cut stars, flowers, hearts, and other shapes out of contrasting construction paper, and glue them onto the rectangle. Decorate even more with markers and crayons or paint, and use glitter to make the design sparkly. Roll the rectangle into a tube and staple it shut. Cut eight 25-inch lengths of crepe paper to make streamers, and glue them around the inside edge of one end of the tube. Next, cut a two-foot length of string and tie a knot at each end. Staple the knots to either side of the tube end opposite the streamers to make a handle. Hang your wind sock at the edge of a porch or patio where it will be protected from rain and can ride gently in the breeze.

What You'll Need

Learning and Growing

Craft activities are always a great way to develop fine-motor skills; this one stimulates your child's curiosity about natural science, too. Before you hang your wind sock, take your child outside to help him discover natural signs of wind. Look at trees and bushes to see how they're swaying. Have your child wet his finger and hold it up in the air (or, if he's very young, hold his hand up for him). Ask him to guess which way the wind is blowing based on which side of his finger feels colder. Once you've hung your wind sock, check to see whether he was right about the wind direction. You can continue to test yourselves every day, by checking wind direction with the finger test and by watching the trees, then looking to see if your observations coincide with the direction of the wind sock.