Weather Wizard
Weather Wizard is an online game at the National Geographic Explorers website. Players travel alongside a group of scientists called the Weather Wizards and chase a storm. The team has spotted a tornado 100 miles in the distance and hop in their special laboratory truck to hunt it down.
Participants work as a fellow scientist, answering multiple-choice weather trivia questions to move the vehicle closer to the storm. Various skill and knowledge levels apply. The game provides facts supporting correct answers that expand on the original question after players answer. Pick a wrong answer once, and you get a second chance. Select a second wrong answer, your truck stalls and you return to the beginning of the game to try again. The game offers accurate information for each question even if you don't answer correctly.
This game is fun but challenging. Older kids will enjoy it the most. Younger ones may run out of patience because they'll have to go back to the beginning every time they answer a question incorrectly.
Homemade Word Search
Make a word search as easy or difficult as your child wishes to attempt. White 8 1/2-inch-by-11-inch paper works well as does light green or blue copy paper. Make a single master game and copy for multiple use. Graphing paper also offers a suitable format for this game. Place a single letter in each square.
A strong list of words can include short and multiple-lettered words. Thunderstorm, hurricane, typhoon, blizzard, tropical depression, thermometer, lightning bolt, cloud, rain, snow, tornado, cyclone, precipitation, heat wave, heat index, sleet and forecast are all appropriate word choices.
For a twist on this game, create a word list that coincides with each season, and work it into a larger lesson plan. Encourage students to assist in the compilation of the list as well. Offer points for the words---give higher points for more letters, and hand out privileges or prizes to the winner.
Weather Memory Matching Game
Making a weather memory matching game requires creativity, access to weather-related words and information, a few materials and a small amount of time. You'll need yellow card stock or cardboard and gray, green and blue paper if you choose.
To begin, cut each piece of card stock into 2-inch-by-2-inch squares. Use themed stickers or markers to draw your own weather-related images. If you're making this game for young children, pictures work better than words. A lightning bolt, thunderstorm sky, sun, various types of natural disasters---a tornado, hurricane, earthquake, wind storm, blizzard---a rainbow, thermometer and snow are all applicable images.
To play this game, flip all squares over so the images are face down, and mix up the pieces. Kids take turns, flipping over two cards at a time. If they get a match, they keep the cards and take a second turn. If no match appears, the next player goes. The person with the most matches after all the cards are collected wins.