Get ready for a hands-on weather experiment that’s perfect for spring science! This shaving cream rain cloud model is a fun and easy way to demonstrate how clouds hold water until they become too heavy—then, it rains!
PinShaving Cream Cloud Experiment
Studying weather and experimenting with a foam rain cloud is a fantastic way to introduce kids to Earth Science. Earth Science includes the atmosphere, hydrosphere, geosphere, and biosphere.
💡 Weather deals with the day-to-day changes in the atmosphere that directly impact our lives. Should I take a rain jacket to the playground?
STEM Concepts Explored:
- Weather Science (Meteorology) – Understanding how clouds form and how rain happens.
- The Water Cycle – Demonstrating condensation, saturation, and precipitation.
- States of Matter – Exploring how water changes from gas (water vapor) to liquid (rain).
- – Seeing how water droplets build up until they become too heavy to stay in the cloud.
💡 Let’s get to our simple rain cloud model and find out how clouds form rain. Alternatively, you can try this sponge rain cloud method.
Recommended Grade Level: Preschool-3rd Grade
Supplies:
- Jar filled with water
- Shaving cream
- Eye dropper, syringe, droppers, or pipettes
- Liquid food coloring
- Extra bowl to mix the colored rainwater
Foam Rain Cloud Instructions
🔎 A foam rain cloud is an excellent example of a scientific model – an easy way to help explain larger-than-life science concepts.
STEP 1: Squirt a fluffy shaving cream rain cloud on top of the water in your vase or jar. We made a huge rain cloud.
PinSTEP 2: Mix up a separate bowl of water and blue drops of food coloring. I heavily tinted it blue to see our rain cloud in action. Choose whatever colors you want to try for your cloud.
STEP 3 Use the eyedropper to squeeze the colored water into the shaving cream cloud. In the above picture, you can see the bottom of the cloud is quite full of our rain.
PinSTEP 4: Add rainwater to your cloud and watch the storm take shape!
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PinHow Do Clouds Form?
Clouds form from tiny drops of water. These drops come from lakes, rivers, and oceans when the sun heats up the water and turns it into water vapor—like steam! This part is called evaporation.
Water vapor rises into the sky. As it rises, the air gets cooler. The water vapor cools down and turns back into little water drops. This is called condensation. All these tiny drops stick together to make a cloud.
When more water builds up in the cloud, the drops getbigger and heavier. When they become too heavy to stay in the cloud, theyfall to the ground as rain,which is called precipitation.
In this experiment:
- Shaving cream represents the cloud.
- Colored water represents the water droplets.
- As the shaving cream becomes saturated, it mimics how real clouds can no longer hold the moisture, leading to rain.
🔎 Make sure to explore the Water Cycle with kids, too!
More Fun Weather Facts for Kids
- Clouds are made of billions of tiny water droplets or ice crystals.
- The tallest clouds can stretch 10 miles into the sky!
- Not all clouds produce rain—some are simply too thin or high up.
Make It a Cloud Science Project
Turn this into a weather science project:
- Conclusion: What did you observe about how clouds produce rain?
- Question: How does a cloud produce rain?
- Hypothesis: If I add colored water to a shaving cream cloud, it will “rain” when the cloud is full.
- Experiment: Add water drop by drop and observe.
- Results: Measure how many drops it takes before rain begins.
Weather Extension Activities
Explore the Water Cycle:
This rain cloud experiment is a great way to visualize how water moves through the environment. Kids can see how evaporation, condensation, and precipitation all work together as part of the water cycle.
🔎 You can also create a water cycle in a bag!
Learn About Cloud Formation:
Use this experiment to spark a conversation about different types of clouds. What makes them form, and why do they look so different?
🔎 Our cloud viewer project has visuals!
Discover Precipitation Types:
What other forms of precipitation fall from clouds besides rain? Extend the activity by discussing snow, sleet, and hail—how they form and when we see them. You can check out the winter water cycle.
Connect Weather to Daily Life:
Weather science helps kids make real-world connections. Why do we need jackets some days and sunscreen on others? Hands-on experiments like this make science meaningful.
🔎 Add this free printable weather tracker to the project.
Get your FREE Weather Science Guide!
More Fun Weather Activities
Introduce your kids to fun ways to explore the weather with the various weather activities below.
- Tornado in a Bottle
- Cloud In A Jar
- Making Rainbows
- Water Cycle in a Bag
- Make A Cloud Viewer
- Make an Anemometer
- Weather Playdough Mats
- Homemade Weather Station
Printable Weather Project Packs
We have a Preschool Weather Project Pack and an Elementary Grades Weather Project Pack. Both are filled with grade appropriate hands-on activities, instructions, printables, and more.
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