12 Picture Books About Weather

Filled with motion and rhythm, this celebration of rain follows three children as they start a gray day happily playing indoors, then head outside with umbrellas and boots, joyfully jumping and stomping through puddles. When the sky lightens and it becomes sunny, the friends continue to have fun together and they rejoice in how beautiful their day has been.

Just a few flakes are falling and no one thinks it will amount to much, except a small boy with a dog who is overjoyed when a blanket of white covers his small town. The excitement of a child’s first snow is beautifully captured and young readers will want to get up and dance and play just like the boy and his dog and some very special characters the snow brings to life.

This very informative nonfiction book about clouds will have kids looking at the sky in a whole new way. Take this title outside on a cloudy day to scan the sky as you read about what clouds are made up of, the different kinds of clouds, and what their names tell us. When everyone is full on cloud facts, follow the directions for making a cloud in a jar, but keep the book handy for future cloud watching trips.

This nonfiction title is a wonderful introduction to the science behind snow. Learn what makes snow crystals unique, what conditions allow their formation, and even how to catch a snowflake! The book incorporates amazing photographs of actual snow crystals and is as a springboard for a discussion not just of winter weather, but the water cycle, crystal formation, and the three states of matter.

Just like kids, this nonfiction book has lots of questions about wind. It also has lots of answers — plus suggestions for activities and experiments to help kids explore and prove those answers. Don’t hesitate to put down the book as you read to try out whatever experiments pique kid interest!

When a fog rolls into Icyland, it prevents Warble, a small yellow warbler, from enjoying his favorite pastime: human watching. No one else he talks with seems concerned about the growing fog until he meets the Red-hooded Spectacled Female, a young girl who has also noticed the growing fog. Warble and the girl take this weather seriously and team up to draw attention to the situation, taking the first and important step of raising awareness with others. Sharing this touching, funny title is sure to lead discussion about observing changes in our climate and the environment.

Everybody wants rain when it is this hot. Plants are wilting, cats are panting, and Tessie wants something to help cool everything down. When she sees dark clouds gather, she and her friends put on bathing suits and wait and hope. When a great shower comes, they start dancing in the rain and are soon joined by their mothers who also soak in the joy.

Sixteen busy girls introduce readers to the different weather associated with the seasons as they hike, swim, dive, run, pick apples, and build snowmen. Throughout their seasonal adventures, they change their outfits to dress appropriately for the weather, opening an opportunity to talk with kids about how best to dress for all kinds of weather.

This immersive nonfiction title is just as much about feelings about the weather as it is about the facts. Filled with evocative illustrations, this book explores different weather phenomena, from rainbows and sunsets to clouds, frost, and rainstorms. Four chapters explain the sun, rain, snow and ice, and extreme weather. Dip in and out of this book, making time to head outside and look and wonder about the weather around you.

In the retelling of this Aesop fable, the wind, rain, and sun compete to make a shepherd take off her cap. The shepherd laughs off her cap with delight at the grass around her growing green thanks to the storm and sunshine, so it’s the earth that actually wins — in more ways than one! The artwork featuring collages made of torn paper and photographs vividly bring the dramatic weather elements to life and may inspire some readers the desire to pick up scissors and make their own collages.

An imaginative boy and his grandfather are doing their best to make the best of some very hot weather. It may be the hottest day of the year, but nothing can stop their picnic adventure! As they search for the ideal picnic spot, the story takes a fantastical turn and pirates enter the picture, helping provide the perfect place to picnic. Take this title and others in the Seasons with Grandad series on a picnic of your own!

This rhyming read-aloud celebrates how we’re all connected under the sun. As readers are introduced to people and places all over the world and throughout history, the refrain, “The sun shines everywhere,” reminds us that the sun is something that we all need and that we all share.