MOTHER NATURE’S FURY

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How do you explain natural disasters for kids without frightening them? When dealing with young children it is probably best to not dwell on the effect natural disasters can have on humans. But you can teach them about mother nature’s fury by focusing on things such as the environmental elements that cause each natural disaster to occur. Explore what a volcano eruption or tornado looks like. Even their impact on the earth is important, such as on plants and wildlife. 

We play charades to keep this light hearted but teach important information in our home. Also, the free printable to use with this game is at the bottom of this post and instructions to help you play! The natural disasters included in the printable are volcano eruptions, tornadoes, and earthquakes. Additionally, you’ll find hurricanes, wildfires, tsunamis, and avalanches.

Creating context of natural disasters for kids.

Book suggestions.

Firstly, the book Look Inside Wild Weather by Emily Bone is full of interesting facts for kids.

In addition, the A True Book series from Scholastic includes the following:

• Firstly, All About Volcanoes.
• Secondly, All About Tornadoes.
• All About Hurricanes.
• Further, All About Wildfires
• All About Heat Waves and Droughts,
• Lastly, All About Earthquakes.

Online resources.

There are a few videos specifically for teaching natural disasters for kids. A few favorites are the following:

• Natural Disasters for Kids by Smile and Learn.
• Natural Disasters Compilation by Peekaboo Kidz.
• Lastly, Top 10 Natural Disasters for Kids by Learn Bright.

Natural disasters for kids charades game.

There are a couple options for printing the natural disasters for kids printable. You can either print on regular paper and glue to construction paper. Or print on colored cardstock. Either option will give you the concealment needed for playing charades. You’re ready to play now that you have the printable and information.

Action ideas for the natural disasters.

Depending on the age of your child, you can allow them to come up with their own movements and actions for the natural disasters. If you are working with a 3-5 year old I suggest using the following motions as a guide. Work through each natural disaster individually and then imitate the motion together. 

• Firstly, volcanic eruption -coming from a squat position jump up with your arms fanning out.
• Tornado – spin in a circle really fast with your arms out.
• Earthquake – shake about like you’re trying to catch your balance.
• Hurricane – This one can be a few different motions because you get winds and rain. However, I would stick with the flooding aspect. Starting with your hands low to the ground bring them up with the fingers dancing until they’re above your head. Then swing your arms about. 
• Wildfire – Sway your arms back and forth above your head imitating flames.
• Tsunami – Begin in a crouching position with your arms above your head. Then come running out of the position and throw your arms down to symbolize the crashing of the wave.
• Avalanche – Circle your arms around each other starting above your head and having them come down to the floor.
• Hail – Have your hands clenched as fists and raise them above your head. Then throw them down repeatedly and be sure to alternate. This almost looks like you’re beating a drum. 

How to play charades.

The number of people you have will depend on how you play charades.

Two people – one person picks a card without the other person seeing it. Then they act out the natural disaster represented on the card. The other person must guess the natural disaster correctly.

Three people – each person is on their own team. One person acts out the natural disaster and whoever guesses first gets to keep that card and the point.

More than three people – you can divide into teams and only the people on the same team can guess what their team member is acting out. There is a set time limit, we use a small hourglass that came from a board game. However, you can use a timer on your phone if you do not have an hourglass. Usually 30-45 seconds is enough.

Free printable: natural disasters for kids.

Turn an interesting topic like natural disasters into a game and see how well your children remember unique characteristics about each disaster. Leave a comment below sharing about your family’s experience playing the Natural Disaster Charades game.

Creative activities for 3-5 year old’s.

Natural disasters for kids is a part of Vv is for Volcano. This is a week of learning about volcanoes but also includes a specific look at learning the letter V and alphabet. However, the activities included in Vv is for Volcano are just as exciting for older students. Such as smashing geodes to discover the crystals inside or creating a volcanic eruption experiment at home. 

Vv is for Volcano is one week in a 26 week preschool curriculum. Best of all Letter of the Week is free. There are coloring pages and additional ideas for learning the letters of the alphabet. But your child will hardly even notice they’re learning the alphabet because it’s all paired with themed activities and book suggestions. The activities range from science experiments, to math and to art. Learn more by following the button below.