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Make a light-up cloud mobile

Learn about clouds and make a hanging mobile using cotton wool to light up at night!

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You’ll need

  • 1 toilet tube, per person
  • Cotton wool
  • LED tealight
  • Blue yarn or wool (around 30 cm per person)
  • Coloured paper
  • Sticky tape
  • PVA glue
  • Scissors
  • Hole punch 
  • Raindrops templates (one per person)
Raindrops template
PDF – 94.6KB
Download Raindrops template

Before you begin

  • Use the safety checklist to help you plan and risk assess your activity. There's also more guidance to help you carry out your risk assessment, including examples.   
  • Make sure all young people and adults involved in the activity know how to take part safely.
  • Make sure you’ll have enough adult helpers. You may need some parents and carers to help. 

 Planning and setting up this activity

  • Print out copies of the raindrops template, enough for one per person.
  • You may wish to print out some information about clouds for people to use.
  • Button and coin batteries pose a severe health risk, if inserted, swallowed, or ingested, particularly to those in younger sections. This can cause severe internal injuries. To make sure everyone stays safe, it’s important to:
    • Check that battery compartments are secure and undamaged prior to use.
    • Supervise young people when they’re using products that contain button/coin batteries.
    • Inform those with parental or carer responsibilities that the programme activity includes the use of products with button/coin batteries.
    • If you’re concerned that batteries may have been ingested, seek immediate medical advice by calling 999. 

Different types of clouds

  • Cumulus clouds are white and fluffy - and often we can see different shapes in them!
  • They look puffy, like cotton wool or candy floss. 
  • They usually float between 300m and 2000m in the sky.
  • Stratus clouds cover much of the sky and float lower down than cirrus or cumulus clouds.
  • When rain is falling from a stratus cloud, we call it nimbostratus. A nimbostratus cloud looks like a dark blanket that covers the sky.
  • They are often flat and don’t move. On overcast days they stretch across the whole sky like a blanket. 
  • Cirrus clouds look like thin, long, wispy feathers.
  • They float around 6000m up in the sky. 

We add 'nimbus' to the names of the clouds when there is rain or snow falling out of them. For example, a cumulonimbus is a dark puffy thundercloud with rain falling out of it.

From a distance, clouds might look like cotton wool, but they’re made from water. Clouds form when the air cools down. This changes water vapour into drops of liquid water, or even tiny ice crystals in a process called condensation. The water droplets are big enough to catch the light and allow us to see them, but so small and light that they hang in the sky and don't fall to the ground. The water droplets all gather together and make clouds. 

Did you know Earth isn’t the only planet with clouds? Mars has clouds that are made of ice and dust and can even create wispy, fog-like formations. Venus is covered in thick clouds too, but instead of water, they’re made of sulfuric acid, making the planet really hot. 

(Source: BBC Bitesize)

Running this activity 

  1. Gather everyone around and explain that you’ll be learning about clouds. 
  2. See if anyone can name the different types of clouds or knows how clouds are made. You can discuss this with everyone using information on the page.
  3. To make the cloud mobile, take a toilet tube, then carefully make four holes at the top of the toilet tube using a hole punch. The holes should be on each side, just like where North, South, East and West are on a compass. 
  4. Next, thread some string through the holes to be able to hang it up.
  5. Paint the cup blue or add blue paper first to it to make it look like the sky.
  6. Now, stick cotton wool to the outside of the toilet tube using PVA glue. You could make the clouds into different shapes, try to create different types of clouds or paint the cotton wool too to show rain clouds. 
  7. Give everyone a copy of the raindrops templates. They could colour or paint these raindrops, then cut them out. Alternatively, people could cut raindrop shapes out of coloured paper. 
  8. Next, cut three 30cm pieces of blue yarn or wool. 
  9. Stick each piece of wool to the inside of the toilet tube, so they hang down.
  10. Space out three raindrops along each piece of wool and stick them down using sticky tape.
  11. You could add other things, such as lightning bolts, sunshines, aeroplanes and snowflakes.
  12. Add the LED tealight into the top of the toilet tube. It should slot in and be held securely by the tube, but you could use velcro dots or glue dots to hold it in place. Make sure the light is battery-operated and safe.  

Reflection

This activity was all about clouds. Can you remember how clouds are made?  What are the different types of clouds you can remember? Did you know that Earth isn’t the only place with clouds? Can you remember which other planets have clouds too? Mars and Venus both have clouds too, but they’re slightly different to Earth's clouds. 

We all made brilliant cloud mobile. What was your favourite part of creating it? Did you find cutting, gluing, or decorating the most fun? What are you going to do with yours? Next time you see clouds, try to guess what kind they are and what weather they might bring. You could also go cloud watching and see what kind of cloud shapes you can spot! 

Safety

All activities must be safely managed. You must complete a thorough risk assessment and take appropriate steps to reduce risk. Use the safety checklist to help you plan and risk assess your activity. Always get approval for the activity, and have suitable supervision and an InTouch process.

You must run your activities in line with the Safeguarding Code of Conduct for Adults (Yellow Card) and report any concerns to the UK HQ Safeguarding Team.

Scissors

Supervise young people appropriately when they’re using scissors. Store all sharp objects securely, out of the reach of young people.

Rubbish and recycling

All items should be clean and suitable for this activity.

Electronics

Remove any equipment you’re working on from the power source before you begin. Never assume the power circuit’s off – test it with a voltmeter (and then test it again to be sure). Only connect power to a circuit once you’ve finished working on it and have checked your work. Make sure your circuit isn’t overloaded, and return any covers you’ve removed.

Make sure that all electronics equipment is properly grounded. Use the right electronics tools, and always replace damaged equipment (for example, replace cables rather than repairing them with insulating tape). Always have safety equipment including a fire extinguisher, basic first aid kit, and mobile phone nearby.

Crafting with younger sections

Be well prepared, with everything ready before you begin. Make sure equipment and materials are age appropriate. Make sure small objects are not put in mouths, ears and noses. Remind young people not to put anything in their mouth and wash hands regularly.

  • To make this activity easier, you could pre-cut the raindrops for people to use or add the holes to the toilet tubes. 
  • To make this activity harder, you could make clouds from another planet, such as Mars or Venus, and paint the toilet tube to look like the planet’s surface. 

Make it accessible

All Scout activities should be inclusive and accessible.

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