Wind Direction: How and Why

How We Measure It & Why It Matters (Science Club/Weather series of posts)

Wednesday, Jan 18

STEM challenge: design a windvane

All of the windvane lesson plans for kids that I found solved the problem for them of how to get it to rotate, but I was really interested in seeing if they could solve this problem for themselves! So I put them in teams, gave them paper to sketch out their ideas, and stood by four huge bins of possible supplies (cardboard, wood, metal & wire, plastic & foam) and acted as the Supply Shopkeeper.

Once they had a sketch of their idea they showed up with a Materials List and I helped them find what they needed out of what we had. And then they went off to their station to try building things! I had a tabletop fan at the ready but at the end of an hour and a half, no one had a prototype ready to test. It is very tricky to figure out how to fasten something YET have it be able to freely spin. So they all went home to look at their toys that spin to see how they are designed!!!



instructions we DID NOT use
How to Make a Wind Vane
same activity, PDF version

T pins for macramé would be great here! I should get some!




As a matter of fact, I had actually expected that figuring out how to make it spin would take very little time and that they'd spend most of their time figuring out the length, shape, and weight necessary for the vane itself. I was wrong! However, they had a fantastic time and were doing some wonderful creative thinking and problem solving.

Wednesday, Jan 25

Most children were absent today because of a snowstorm, so we just continued with last week's activity. One child tried a unique idea for a floating windvane (similar to a floating compass) using a plastic cup in a bowl of water. He expected to make the cup into a boat and put a sail on it, and have it turn into the wind, but instead the entire cup just moved across the water when he blew on it.

I'm not sure if spending more time on this was useful. I think they are having a hard time grasping the concept. The younger children keep requesting wooden tiles (and a Sharpie to write N, S, E, W on them), so they clearly know that there have to be four compass points. But they don't understand that the goal is to have something that spins in the wind, and they keep focusing on the N, S, E, W portion of the design and asking for more wooden tiles each time -- and as an afterthought just duct taping all the various components together -- so of course the windvane is stuck and doesn't rotate!

I think next week we will make the Whimsical Wind Vane (PDF).

materials needed:


4 oz Cold Water Cups (Cone-Shaped)


Extra-Large Straws, 1/2 inch diameter

plastic soda cup & lid with straw slit (up to 1/2 inch diameter)

probably the best thing would be to go order a Bubble Tea at Blend Tea and Crepe Lounge, and just keep the cup & straw


Foam Cylinder, 1/2 inch diameter

straw of a smaller diameter, and two washers that fit it

weights (marbles, pebbles, or sand)

googly eyes, crepe paper streamers, marker to decorate face




I am not sure about the two washers (one metal & one foam). I may have things on hand already that will work for those.

Wednesday, Feb 1

So, I actually didn't buy a single one of the things listed above. I gave the children the choice today of continuing on with their current design or working on a team to try out one of these two projects:

Make a Wind Vane at Home (PDF)

Whimsical Wind Vane (PDF)

In the end, the Whimsical Wind Vane did work the best. We just rolled up some computer paper to make the cones. This design makes it clear that there needs to be a LARGE end and and a SMALL end for the windvane to point into the wind and not in the opposite direction. To me, that is the thing that really makes it a winner.

I had on hand an old fat plastic straw from a broken water bottle, so we used that for the larger diameter straw.

As far as the 4-H document, I did really like the visual supply list. The younger children tried that one. The biggest downside to those directions is that, from the illustration, it looks like the two triangular pieces should be the same size. (I did get the T pins and they worked out beautifully. Since the pin just needs to go into any eraser, gluing a large pink eraser onto something sturdy and then putting the pin in it is easier than using a pencil and then trying to support the pencil.)

our previous exploration: air pressure

our next exploration: wind speed

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