Windy day adventures with wind streamers

What you need

• Sticks collected from outdoors (or you could use the end of a wooden spoon or other similar object)
• Ribbons or thin scarves that will blow in the breeze

Benefits

This is a fun way to learn about cause and effect, as your child observes how the streamers move about in the wind. This is a great activity to do in the garden or out at the park on a windy day. Your child will also be encouraged to move about, whether that is waving their streamer from a seated position or running or dancing with the streamer in hand.

The experience

Create your streamers, tying your ribbons or scarves securely to the sticks. If you have any old pieces of fabric/clothing, you could also cut thin strips to make these.

Provide your child with the streamers and go out to a space to explore them - ideally outdoors. See how they move and talk about what is happening. You may need to have your own streamer and show your child how it works, by moving it around to create movement.

Ideally, this will be explored on a windy day where your child can hold the streamer and observe how it moves in the breeze. Talk about what else moves when it is windy outside? Can they see the trees blowing? Perhaps they could pretend to be like a tree with moving branches, and use their streamer for these movements.