Rain Cloud in a Jar

A rain cloud model is a fun weather-themed activity that shows how clouds hold water until they can no longer absorb anymore – and then it rains! Follow along with the video or follow the steps below to create your own model and learn how this happens.

You’ll need white shaving cream (or a sponge), a cup of water, and a measuring cup or dropper full of colored water.

Step 1: Spray the shaving cream around the rim of the cup filled with clear water, the shaving cream should not be touching the surface of the water. The shaving cream represents a cloud, which isn’t as light as fluffy as we usually imagine. Instead, clouds form from water vapor (think of steam rising from boiling water) gathering together in the atmosphere.

Step 2: Start dripping the colored water onto the shaving cream and observe what happens in your “cloud” as well as the water below. Adding the drops to the shaving cream represents the water vapor gathering in a cloud. In the atmosphere, when water vapor cools, it turns into liquid water. As this happens, the rain cloud becomes heavy and it rains! In a similar way, our drops of colored water make our shaving cream cloud heavy and it also rains.

Step 3: Share pictures or videos of your model with us! If you used a sponge, let us know if your cloud model behaved similarly or differently compared to ours!