How Do I
BLAST Early Learning
Weather
Books:
Rain by Manya Stojic
The animals of the African savanna use their senses to predict and then enjoy the rain.
Walter was Worried by Laura Vaccaro Seeger
Children’s faces, depicted with letters of the alphabet, react to the onset of a storm and its aftermath in this picture book, accompanied by simple alliterative text.
Return to the topRhyme:
The Thunderstorm
The children were playing one sunny day
(hold up both hands; wiggle fingers for children)
The cloud came along and the sky turned to gray.
(hold up one hand for cloud, move slowly like a cloud in the sky)
Soon the raindrops started to fall.
(hold up both hands; wiggle fingers like rain falling down)
Then I heard my mother call.
(cup one hand around your ear.)
But when the thunder cracked loudly in the sky – CRACK!
(clap hands together and say “CRACK” very loudly)
We all ran home. "Goodbye, goodbye."
(wiggle fingers, hands moving away from each other and wave hand to signal “Goodbye”)
Song:
Rain Song
Sung to: "If you're happy and you know it"
First a little drop of rain hit the ground, (Tap, Tap)
Then another drop of rain hit the ground, (Tap, Tap)
Then another, and another,
and another, and another,
And pretty soon we heard a different sound. (Splash! Splash!)
Vocabulary Word:
thunder: n. the crashing or booming sound during a storm
Example: “Fredrick was frightened when thunder shook the trees."
(taken from Walter was Worried by Laura Vaccaro Seeger)
Activities:
Rain Painting — On a rainy day, take your children outdoors. Give them each a paper plate sprinkled with powdered tempera paint. Let the children hold their plates in the rain for about a minute. When they bring their plates inside, talk about the designs created by the rain.
Rain, Rain Can You Come In? — On the days that you are lucky enough to get rain, you can make a rainy day rainbow indoors. Catch some of the rain in a pail and put it in 3 spray bottles. Decide together what colors you would like the rain to be. Add food color to the rain water. Spread a big piece of paper on the floor (secured with tape, and be sure to protect the floor around it.) and 3 children at a time spray the colored water up in the air so it falls down onto the paper. When it dries we call it a rainy day rainbow! Whoever said a rainy day isn't fun?
Rain Shaker
Need: A soda pop can or soup can with lid off, plastic wrap, construction paper, bingo dabbers or decorations, beans, and tape.
Directions: Have each child place 1 Tbsp. of bean mixture into the can. Cover top with thick plastic wrap. Have the children decorate their construction paper. Wrap paper around the can and tape in place.
Optional: Cut out circles for top and bottom of can and tape in place. Shake rain maker and sing rain songs.
Walking in the Rain
Need: glue, paper, toothpicks, blue food coloring, small bowls or other containers, crayons, and markers
Directions: Use blue food coloring to tint small containers of glue. Ask children to draw a picture. Have kids dot over the picture with toothpicks dipped into the tinted glue, creating a falling rain scene.
Literature:
Puddles by Jonathan London
When the rain stops falling and the skies clear up, it’s time to put on boots and go outside and play in the puddles.
Crafts for Kids who are Learning about Weather
by Kathy Ross
Make some crafts that will help you learn about weather.
