If you’ve ever spent time with preschoolers, you know how quickly emotions can roll in and change. One moment a child is laughing, and the next, they’re in tears over a dropped snack or a tag in a shirt. Big feelings are part of the preschool experience — and they can be overwhelming for kids and adults alike.
Asking kids how they’re feeling doesn’t always lead to a clear answer. There are ways to help children describe their emotions using something more familiar and concrete.
Why Weather Works for Emotional Learning
Helping young children identify and manage emotions is more than just a nice idea — it’s a foundational life skill. When kids learn how to recognize what they’re feeling, they are better equipped to express themselves, build healthy relationships, and respond to challenges in positive ways. Emotional regulation in early childhood lays the groundwork for success in school and beyond, and it starts with giving kids the tools to understand their inner world.
For preschoolers, the concept of emotions can be a source of confusion. Words like “frustrated” or “overwhelmed” may not always resonate. That’s why I began using weather as a metaphor. It’s something children see and experience every day. A storm might feel like anger, a soft rainbow like calm, and a rainy day like sadness.
Each type of weather mirrors a different kind of feeling. A tornado feels like anger that spins out of control. Rain reflects sadness that needs to fall. Sunshine captures joy. Wind might represent nervous energy or worry. These are things children can see, hear and experience — so when we connect emotions to weather, we make the invisible visible.
By giving emotions a form that exists in their everyday world, we make it easier for children to describe what they’re feeling without needing advanced vocabulary. They begin to understand that just like a rainstorm passes, so can a sad moment. Just like the wind calms, so can anxious energy. This understanding helps build emotional flexibility—something that supports healthy development long-term.
Tangible Tools: Activities That Help Kids Feel and Understand
Kids learn best by doing. Pairing emotional language with hands-on, sensory activities makes the learning stick. The experience of touching, seeing and creating something adds an extra layer of understanding — making feelings even more concrete and relatable for young children.
Here are a few simple ways to bring weather-based emotional learning into your home or classroom:
1. Tornado in a Bottle (Anger)
Fill a clear bottle with water, glitter, and a drop of dish soap. When shaken, it becomes a swirling tornado. Use it to show how anger can build— and how it can settle with time.
2. Rain Cloud Experiment (Sadness)
Layer shaving cream on top of water in a clear cup. Use a dropper to add colored water until it “rains.” This is a great visual for the idea that it’s okay to feel full and let it out.
3. Feather or Bubble Breathing (Worry)
Use slow, deep breaths to move a feather across a table or blow bubbles. It turns calming strategies into something kids can feel and play with, while connecting it to the concept of wind.
These aren’t just science activities —they’re regulation tools in disguise. Kids shift from tense to calm just by taking a few bubble breaths. When the activity matches the emotion, learning becomes both fun and meaningful.
Let’s Talk About All the Feelings
One of the most valuable messages we can give kids is that all feelings are valid. Emotions aren’t right or wrong — they’re just signals. Using weather strips away the shame that can sometimes come with big emotions. A “stormy” moment doesn’t make you a bad kid. It just means you need support.
As adults, we often default to “calm down” or “stop crying.” But saying, “Let’s ride this storm together,” creates a connection instead of control. It reminds children that we’re on their team — even when their skies are cloudy.
When a child can say, “Today feels like rain,” they’re not just expressing themselves — they’re learning how to move through their emotions with confidence.
And that’s the kind of emotional literacy that lasts well beyond the preschool years.
Erin Nusker is a kindergarten teacher, curriculum developer, and author of the Cloudy with a Chance of Feelings book series. Her newest book, “Sometimes I Feel Like the Weather,” just released on Amazon. Her work helps young children build emotional awareness using weather metaphors and hands-on learning. Learn more at erinnusker.net.
