All About Tornadoes

Auntie Judy stopped over a few days ago with gifts for all the boys.  She always finds the coolest stuff!  The Discovery Kids Tornado Lab was awesome and gave us at least two hours worth of entertainment.  Before we started our lesson, I asked the boys what they thought a tornado was.

Tommy:  It's like a tomato...but its not red.  It's purple.

Cole:  "Toe-nados" are like ghosts and monsters except they are really tiny!

They are such a riot.  Tommy was pretty smart about thinking it MUST be something like a tomato!  :)  I explained a little bit - enough to catch their attention - then we sat down and watched the DVD that came with it.  We watched real tornado chasers and learned more about what a tornado was.  

After the video, it was off to the lab!  It came with a little simulator that created tornadoes in the water and we added little beads and foam squares to show what happened to houses, cars, etc when in the path of one.  This was their favorite part.  "This is mommy's car!"  "I'm throwing daddy in the tornado!"  By the end, we had Nana and Papa...their cars...Kevin and I and both of our cars...Cole, Tommy, Grant and our house in the mix.

After the lesson was over, I quizzed them on what they had learned.

Mom:  "What would you if there was a tornado?" 

Tommy:  "Go down the basement." 

Cole:  "You never play near a tornado...you run AWAY from a tornado."

Mom:  "Are tornadoes big or small?"

Tommy:  "BIG."

Mom:  "Where do tornadoes come from?"

Cole:  "The sky!  They go fast, fast, fast and whoosh down and swoop up things!"  (Said with LOTS of dramatic flair.)

I have to say, I am pretty impressed with how quickly they pick things up.  Let's hope they never actually experience a tornado, but it was such a cool thing to learn about with my favorite pals.  Thanks Auntie Judy!