How to Make Your Own Rain Gauge

If you are looking for a project to do with your children, especially for a learning home school activity, a really fun project is making your own rain gauge. It’s easy to do, and really works. Your child can use his own rain gauge to tell exactly how much rain a storm dropped in your yard. It’s a great way to help teach your children about weather, the environment, and even math (measurements).

You will need:

A large coffee can

A twenty ounce soda bottle

Permanent market

Ruler

1 can enamel white spray paint

plastic funnel

Small bottle enamel paint used for models (dark color)

Small paintbrush

Clean your coffee can and soda bottle thoroughly inside and out, making sure to peel off any paper or glue. If the glue doesn’t come off easily you can use Goo Gone to help remove the rest of it.

Using your ruler, pour water into the coffee can until it measures 1/8 inch. Now pour that water into the 20 ounce soda bottle. You will want to use your plastic funnel so that none of the water escapes. Draw a small line on the soda bottle where the water comes to. Write 1/8 beside the line.

Continue in this way until you have 1/4 inch, 1/2 inch, 1 inch, 1 1/8 inch, 1 1/4 inch, 1 1/2 inch, and 2 inches. Put the bottle away where you can get to it easily after a storm comes. This is what you will use to tell how much rain fell from the storm.

Now, cover your coffee can with its lid, or if you no longer have the lid, then a piece of newspaper will work. Spray the outside of the can thoroughly with the white enamel spray paint. You may need to put on two or three coats. Make sure the coats are even and light so that the paint doesn’t run. Allow to dry. Some paints dry slower than others. They do make a quick drying enamel paint, but typically it takes twenty-four hours for enamel paint to dry.

Once the paint is dry, use the small bottle of enamel bottle paint and paintbrush and decorate the can. You may want to put your child’s name with rain gauge (i.e. Laura’s Rain Gauge). Allow the paint to dry.

Once the paint is dry, place your coffee can (or new rain gauge) out in the yard where rain will fall into it. It is best placed out in the open so it will be more precise. After a hard rain, pour the rain collected into the bottle labeled with measurements and you can tell how much rain fell in your yard.

Something to bear in mind when working with enamel paints is that it does not come out of fabric, and it does not wash easily off of hands. Mineral spirits must be used to clean hands, and then soap and water. The same goes with the paintbrush.