Where does all the monsoon rain come from?
A plain-English answer for grown-ups of kids aged 6–9, taken from the Yufena lesson that explores this question.
This is a members' lesson. Four other lessons are free to try.
The answer, for parents
Short answer: The sun turns sea water into vapour, it cools into clouds, and the monsoon wind brings heavy rain to land.
The sun shines on the warm sea. Some sea water turns into water vapour. It floats up, but we cannot see it! This is called evaporation. The warm, wet air rises high up. Up there, the air is cold. The vapour turns into tiny water drops. Millions of drops make one cloud! This is called condensation.
The monsoon winds change direction with the seasons. From about November to March, they blow from the northeast. They push lots of wet sea air towards the land. Malaysia's east coast and Singapore get very heavy rain then. Inside the cloud, tiny drops bump and join. They grow big and heavy. Then they fall as rain! The water flows into rivers and back to the sea. This loop is the water cycle.
In the lesson, your child puts this cause-and-effect chain in order: Sun heats the sea → Water evaporates → Wind carries wet air to land → Air rises and cools → Clouds form → Heavy rain falls → Water flows back to the sea.
What if there were no wind? Rain clouds would stay over the sea more. The land would get less rain.
Where does our tap water come from? A lot of it starts as rain. It is stored in reservoirs, cleaned, then piped to our taps.
Try it with your child
Let's make rain in a jar! A grown-up pours hot water into a glass jar. Then they put a plate of ice on top. Wait a few minutes and watch closely. Tiny drops form under the cold plate. They join up and drip down, just like rain!
Safety: Safety first: grown-ups handle the hot water.
Explore it together in the full lesson
Guess, find clues, build the chain and try the experiment. Read it together.