El Niño for kids: the tub experiment

You can see the big idea behind El Niño with a tub of water and a straw.

What you need. A long, clear plastic tub, water, a little warm water with food colouring, and a straw for each child. Ask an adult to help with the warm water.

Try it. 1. Fill the tub with water and gently add a few drops of the coloured warm water on top. 2. Be the trade winds: blow gently across the surface with your straw, from one end to the other. The coloured water piles up at the far end. 3. Stop blowing and watch the coloured water slide back across the tub.

What it shows. Over the real Pacific Ocean, the trade winds usually push warm surface water west, toward Indonesia and Asia, where it piles up in a deep "warm pool", NOAA explains. During El Niño the trade winds weaken, and warm water spreads back east across the ocean. That changes where clouds and rain form, and it can change the monsoon in India, says IMD.

Remember. The tub is a simple model. The real ocean is thousands of kilometres wide, and El Niño takes months to grow, usually peaking between November and February.

Fun fact. Fishermen in South America noticed warm water near their coast around Christmas and named it "El Niño", Spanish for "the little boy".

Join the Kids Learn: El Niño room to share what you saw.

Join the El Niño help room on soshyal.com to ask questions and share what you see in your area.