How to Make a Hurricane in a Jar

Are you looking for a fun sensory activity to get your kids thinking about wild weather? Check out our instructions to make a swirling, colourful hurricane in a jar!

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Hurricane Prompts

On summer holiday last year my family was looking forward to a beach-filled, sun-drenched week on the East Coast of Canada. However, Mother Nature had other plans. Hurricane Arthur hit the East Coast of the US and worked its way North – just in time to cancel our flight.

Thankfully, in the end, our flight was only delayed for a day and we had a fantastic “almost-week” of beach-filled, sun-drenched holiday.  My son, however, got very curious about hurricanes and so I decided to do a little project with him that would help explain!

Great Reads for Kids About Hurricanes

After reading The Magic School Bus: Inside A Hurricane, my son had a pretty good understanding of the storm that had delayed our flight. These books have colourful, engaging storylines and pictures and are chock full of science facts. Perfect for kids ages 3-8.

Another great book about hurricanes for young kids is:

If you’re looking for even more great resources to teach kids about hurricanes, be sure to check out our post Hurricane Resources for Kids.

Hurricane in a Jar Supplies

• A glass jar
• A liquid soap that contains Glycol Stearate (we used Softsoap brand – has to be the opaque kind, not the transparent type)
• Water
• Food coloring

How to Mix Up a Hurricane

1. Fill the jar approximately 1/4 to 1/3 full of soap, then add water to fill up the rest of the space.
2. When the water gets to the top, keep it running until all the bubbles overflow and are gone.
3. If you want to add colour, drop maybe 1 or 2 drops of food colouring into your jar.
4. Screw the cap on tightly and shake!

We played around with turning the jar upside down and shaking it from side to side.  The liquid inside looks like a hurricane if you get it spinning!  It’s so hard to capture how cool this is with only photos.

Trying Different Colours

Different colours could create different kinds of jars.  Red could be lava.  Green could be a stormy sea.  Pink or orange could be a cloudy swirly sunset.

It might be fun to add glitter or small objects too to the jar and see what might happen. We’ll have to try that. (Update: We tried glitter and it looks awesome! Check out our magic sparkles calming jar.)

In the end, after all the fun, you can use the soapy water to wash your hands. Just be sure to only add a few drops of food colouring if you want to do this.

If you like this activity, you may also want to check out our Hopping Corn science activity as well.If you’re interested in finding even more simple science experiments and activities for young children, check out our SCIENCE ACTIVITIES page.Follow One Time Through’s board Science Activities for Kids on Pinterest.

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Happy Hurricaning!