Many children have a natural wonder at the weather. Our six year-old, for example, was gallumphing around the garden in joy this morning just because there’d been a frost.

What about kids understanding how the weather works, though? If you’re not an amateur (or, indeed, a professional) meteorologist, help is at hand: a new iPhone and iPad app called Weather by Tinybop.

It’s the sixth in developer Tinybop’s series of ‘Explorer’ apps, following apps about the human body, plants, homes, machines and the earth. All have been a beautifully-crafted mix of education and fun.

The playful aspect continues here. “Play with sun, air, water, temperature, wind, and precipitation. Dive into a cloud and see what it’s made of. Make it rain, make it snow, or make a thunderstorm,” explains the App Store listing.

“Whirl a tornado or a hurricane. Discover the signs that tell you what it’s going to be like outside today.”

(Living in the UK, as we do, hopefully not a tornado or hurricane. Although you never can tell…)

The idea is very much that children get hands-on creating the weather, rather than simply just watching or reading about it: from drawing clouds and observing their changes to tweaking temperatures to see how plants and pets react.

The app series is well named, because there’s a lot to explore here. For parents as well as children: if the app sparks conversations, you can download Tinybop’s handbook with more information and ideas to use when the app is switched off.

Weather by Tinybop costs £2.29 for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store.

Read about more science apps for kids on Apps Playground.