Year 1 science · Key Stage 1 · Seasonal changes
Year 1 seasons, weather and day length: a parent guide
In Year 1, children observe how the world around them changes through the four seasons. They talk about the weather that goes with each season, notice that the days are longer in summer and shorter in winter, and record what they see in simple tables and charts. They are not expected to explain why the seasons happen, which is left for later years.
Seasons, weather and day length, explained
The national curriculum for Year 1 has two aims: to observe changes across the four seasons, and to observe and describe weather associated with the seasons and how day length varies. The four seasons in the UK are spring, summer, autumn and winter. Weather forecasters count them as March to May, June to August, September to November and December to February, but children are not expected to learn exact dates. What matters is what they can see: in spring, buds open and new leaves and baby animals appear; in summer, it is warm, the trees are in full leaf and the days are long; in autumn, leaves change colour and fall and it gets cooler; in winter, it is cold, many trees are bare and the days are short.
Weather is described using a growing set of words: sunny, cloudy, rainy, windy, foggy, frosty, snowy, stormy, hot, warm, cool and cold. Teachers help children to tell the difference between weather, which changes from day to day, and seasons, which are a pattern across the year. A single warm day in March does not make it summer. Many classes keep a weather chart, ticking the weather each day or taking turns to be a “weather reporter”, and later look at the chart to see which weather was the most common.
Day length is the idea that the number of hours of daylight changes across the year. In the UK, the longest day is around 21 June, with more than 16 hours of daylight in the south of England, and the shortest is around 21 December, with about 8 hours. Children notice this by comparing when it gets dark on the way home in December with a bright evening in June. They can record sunrise and sunset times from a weather report or a calendar. The total length of a day is always 24 hours; it is the daylight part that changes.
Because children are observing changes across all four seasons, most schools come back to this topic through the year rather than teaching it in one block. A class might look at the same tree each term, record the temperature, or make a display on what animals and plants are doing in each season. Tables, simple bar charts and tally charts are typical ways to record what they notice, and they are an early form of data handling.
There is one important safety message. Children are taught that it is never safe to look directly at the sun, even when wearing dark glasses, because it can seriously damage eyesight. This applies to adults too, and a good moment to repeat it is on a sunny day when children are outside.
Words your child will hear
- Season
- One of the four parts of the year: spring, summer, autumn and winter.
- Weather
- What the sky and air are like outside, such as sunny, rainy or windy.
- Temperature
- How hot or cold something is, measured with a thermometer.
- Daylight
- The part of the day when it is light outside.
- Sunrise
- The time in the morning when the sun first appears.
- Sunset
- The time in the evening when the sun goes out of sight.
- Day length
- How many hours of daylight there are between sunrise and sunset.
What the National Curriculum says
In Year 1, pupils should be taught to:
- Observe changes across the 4 seasons
- Observe and describe weather associated with the seasons and how day length varies
Objectives from the National Curriculum in England, © Crown copyright, used under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
Try it: how does day length change through the year?
A class finds the approximate hours of daylight in the south of England around the 21st of December, March, June and September: winter 8 hours, spring 12 hours, summer 16 hours, autumn 12 hours. What do they notice?
- Put the information in a table, with the month and season in the first column and the hours of daylight in the second. Reading across, the children say what they see: “In December it is light for 8 hours.”
- Draw a bar graph. Each bar stands for one season, and the taller the bar the longer the daylight. The children see that the summer bar is the tallest and the winter bar is the shortest.
- Compare. “Summer has 8 more hours of daylight than winter, because 16 take away 8 is 8.” Spring and autumn are in between and about the same as each other.
- Link to what they have seen. “That is why it was still light at bedtime in June, but it was dark when we came out of school in December.”
“The days are longest in summer and shortest in winter. Spring and autumn are in between. The daylight in summer lasts about twice as long as in winter.”
Common mistakes and how to help
Thinking summer is hot because the Earth is closer to the sun, and winter is cold because it is further away
It seems a natural explanation: things that are close to a heat source are warm. Many adults believe it too.
What helps: You may like to know that the Earth is actually closest to the sun in early January. The seasons are caused by the tilt of the Earth as it travels round the sun, which is explained properly at secondary school. In Year 1, keep to observing what changes and when.
Mixing up weather and seasons, for example “It’s sunny, so it must be summer”, or “It’s raining, so it can’t be summer”
Children rely on the picture-book image of each season and have trouble holding the idea that weather varies within a season.
What helps: Keep a weather chart for several weeks and notice that some warm days happen in spring and cold days in summer. Ask, “Is this the sort of weather we usually get in this season?”
Saying that days are shorter in winter because there are fewer hours in a day
Children use the word “day” for both the full 24 hours and the daylight part.
What helps: Use the words daylight and night. Say that every day has 24 hours, but in winter fewer of them are light.
Believing that it’s safe to look at the sun with sunglasses or for a short time
It looks bright but not painful, and darker lenses feel protective.
What helps: Make it a firm family rule that nobody looks directly at the sun. If your child wants to see the sun, they can look at shadows or at the light on the ground instead.
How to help at home
- Weather chart. Each morning, ask your child to look out of the window and draw or tick the weather on a chart on the fridge. After a few weeks, ask which weather has been the most common.
- Visit the same place each season. Take a photo of the same tree, park bench or view in each season and put the pictures side by side. Ask “What has changed? What has stayed the same?”
- Notice when it gets dark. Choose a time, such as bedtime, and talk about whether it is light or dark outside. In the evenings through the year, note when you need to put on the lights. Never look directly at the sun.
- Dress for the weather. Let your child choose clothes for the day by looking at the weather. Talk about why: “It’s cold and wet, so we need a coat and boots.” It links the weather words to real decisions.
- Seasonal collections. Collect autumn leaves, spring blossom, or items that suit each season, and sort them. If you have an outdoor thermometer, read the temperature in the shade at the same time each day and record it on a simple chart.
Related topics
Updated .