Making "Rain" -- A Science Experiment

My girls love when I say, "Let's do a science experiment!"  They think it is very exciting to do an experiment, so we made some rain!  Please be very cautious and make sure the little ones stay back from the stove.  I used the back burner.

1)  Boil a pot of water (this is an ocean).  Fill a pie plate with ice cubes (this is a cloud).

2)  Place the pie plate above the steam (evaporation).  When the steam comes in contact with the cold pie plate, droplets of water form (condensation) and fall back into the pot - kind of like rain (precipitation)!  I used this experiment to introduce these "big" words to my three year old. 

An easy explanation of the water cycle along with a printable sheet is here.