Weather Discovery Tray

First I must say thank you so very, very much for the warm wishes and thoughts you all sent our way last week. I was truly overwhelmed by the fact that so many of you cared enough to comment and email me about our happy news. I kept saying to my husband, "My gosh, there are so many good people out there!". Honestly, I feel so lucky to be a part of such a warm community. Big hugs to you all!

Ok, now before I get too sappy, let's move on to the discovery tray... :)

It'd been a while since I put together a discovery tray for James and after some thought I realized I could easily create a weather-themed tray that appealed to nearly all the senses. James absolutely loves this tray and pulls it out nearly every school day!

Here's what you see:
:: CD with thunderstorm sounds.
:: A prism (leaning against the CD) - to represent a rainbow.
:: Hand held fan - to represent wind. This is James' favorite!
:: A bowl of ice cubes - to represent hail and/or the change in temperature within a cloud as the ice melts into water.
:: Our homemade rainstick.
:: Spray bottle with water inside - to represent a light rain.
:: A tornado bottle. My husband purchased this on Amazon.com. It's SO cool! As you gently swirl the bottle, it creates a tornado effect. This one is my favorite! :)

A couple of items we added later...
:: An inflated balloon which we rubbed against our heads to create static electricity - to represent lightening.
:: A flashlight - to represent the sun.

I should note that even though many of these items do not provide accurate scientific representations, they've provided LOTS of learning fun! And, in my opinion, that's what it's all about!

~Thank you for your comments!~