It's Raining! It's Pouring!

Photo Credit: Painting on a Rainy Day!
on Flickr, Creative Commons

Everybody loves water and on a rainy day you certainly have enough water around. Write your spelling words on the chalkboard and then take a large paintbrush and water to trace over them in order to erase them. Lots of fun and the chalkboard gets cleaned too!

Photo Credit: Paint Brush
on Flickr, Creative Commons

Photo Credit: Umbrella with Raindrops
on Flickr, Creative Commons

1. Make cutouts of umbrellas and raindrops.
2. Print letters to spell words related to the Rainy Day Unit Study on both sides of the cut out raindrops. Write the word on the umbrella.
3. Laminate both the raindrops as well as the umbrellas and place each word with it's raindrop letters into a separate envelope with the word written on the outside.
4. Punch a hole in the top of the umbrella in order to hang it from the ceiling and enough holes for each of the letters in the word to hang from the umbrella.
5. Attach paper clips to the umbrella.
6. Children hang the raindrops in the correct order.

Photo Credit: Playing in the Mud
on Flickr, Creative Commons

Collect some mud. Make Mud Pies. Squish it between your fingers and toes. Then really look at it.

Can you find small stones, sticks, animals in it? Put a handful of mud into a clear jar and fill it 3/4 full of clear water. Shake it up and watch while it settles. Did you notice how the largest particles settles to the bottom. The middle weighted particles settle in the middle and the lightest will float for a very long time. Watch for small animals that might be floating around as well.

Take off your shoes. Does mud feel the same all around the playground? Does it feel like clay or gravel?

Make a record of your answers and recheck your assumptions on the next rainy day.

Girl with Umbrella Walking in the Rain
Heneghan, Tim
Buy This Allposters.com

Look for ideas on how to use these songs in Beginning Readers.

It's Raining, It's Pouring
It's raining, it's pouring,
The old man is snoring,
He went to bed and bumped his head
And couldn't get up in the morning.

Rain, Rain, Go Away
Rain, rain, go away.
Come again some other day.
We want to go outside and play
Come again some other day

Rain on the Green Grass
Rain on the green grass,
and rain on the tree,
And rain on the housetop,
but not on me.

Rain, rain, go away.
Come again some other day.
Little Arthur wants to play,
In the meadow by the hay.

Change the name Arthur to each of the children's names in your class. I have the children's names written on index cards and hold it over the word Arthur as we sing through the song. Laminating will make the cards last longer.

Photo Credit: Bucketfuls, Poster by AlesiaKaye
Available on Zazzle.

Rain, Rain, Rain
Tune: "Three Blind Mice"


Rain, rain, rain
Rain, rain, rain
Dribble, dribble, sploosh!
Dribble, dribble, sploosh!
Grab your boots, your coat, and hat,
Jump in a puddle and go kersplat!
Stomp about and become a drowned rat,
Rain, rain, rain
Rain, rain, rain.

-Unknown Author

Photo Credit: Splashing in the Puddles
on Flickr, Creative Commons

If All of the Raindrops

If all of the raindrops were lemondrops and gumdrops
Oh, what a rain it would be!
Standing outside,
with my mouth open wide
Singing Aa Aa Aa Aa, Aa Aa Aa, Aa Aa Aa,
If all the raindrops were lemon drops and gumdrops
Oh, what a rain it would be!

-Unknown Author

(We love to change this one by choosing a letter and thinking of two types of food that begin with the letter. IE: b-broccoli and brownies! We sing the new words in place of lemon drops and gumdrops and replace Aa with the letter sound).

Raindrops

Raindrops are such funny things.
They haven't feet or haven't wings.
Yet they sail through the air
With the greatest of ease,
And dance on the street
Wherever they please!

-Unknown Author

Photo Credit: Overtaken by Wind
on Reusable Art, Public Domain

Here's Your Umbrella
Tune: London Bridge

The rain outside is
falling down,
falling down,
falling down.
The rain outside is falling down.
Here's your umbrella!

-Unknown Author

Water Cycle
Tune: "It's Raining, It's Pouring"

It's raining, it's pouring,
The oceans are storing
Water from the falling rain
While thunderclouds are roaring.

The rain now is stopping,
The rain's no longer dropping.
Sun comes out and soaks up water
Like a mop that's mopping.

The water's still there now,
But hidden in the air now.
In the clouds it makes a home
Until there's rain to share now.

Photo Credit: water cycle USGS
on USGS, Public Domain

by Meish Goldish

Thunder and Lightning
Tune "Pop Goes the Weasel"

When a storm begins in the clouds,
It sometimes may look frightening.
You see a quick electrical spark--
Flash! goes the lightning!

Long and thin and streaky and fast,
Its glow is oh so brightening.
Watch for the electric spark--
Flash! goes the lightning!

Photo Credit: Lightning
on WPClipart, Public Domain

When a storm begins in the clouds,
It truly is a wonder.
You hear a rumble loud in the sky--
Clap! goes the thunder!

Lightning bolts are heating the air,
Over clouds and under.
When the air expands enough--
Clap! goes the thunder.

by Meish Goldish, 101 Science Poems & Songs for Young Learners, Instructor Books

Rain, Rain Go Away
Rain, rain, go away
Come again some other day
We want to go outside and play
Come again some other day!

It's raining, it's pouring,
The old man is snoring.
He went to bed and he
Bumped his head
And he couldn't get up in the morning.
-by Charles Ives

Photo Credit: Girl in Rain Umbrella
on WPClipart, Public Domain

Clouds

Floating pictures in the sky.
Upon a cloud I'd like to fly.
And see the world
from way up high.

-Unknown Author

Come and ride a cloud with me. Rain, Rain
Tune: Row Row, Row Your Boat

Rain, rain falling down
Landing all around.
What a lovely sound you make
Splashing on the ground.

-Unknown Author

I Can Sing A Rainbow

Red and Yellow
and Pink and Green
Purple and Orange and Blue
I can sing a rainbow,
Sing a rainbow,
Sing a rainbow, too.

by Arthur Hamilton

Rain


Rain on the rooftops,
Rain on the trees.
Rain on the green grass,
But not on me!

-Unknown Author

The Rain

Photo Credit: Frog raindrops by Mathias Erhart
on Flickr, Creative Commons

Pitter-patter raindrops,
Falling from the sky.
Here is my umbrella
To keep me safe and dry.
When the rain is over
And the sun begins to glow,
Little flowers start to bud
And grow and grow and grow.
Rain Rain

Rain rain falls on the street,
mud in puddles cleaning my feet.
Thunder thunder rumble and roar,
close the windows and lock the door.
Clouds, clouds black and gray,
heavy with water to drop all day.
Sun sun is breaking through,
clouds are moving, the rain stops too.
Rainbow rainbow across the sky,
see-through colors to tickle my eyes.

-Unknown Author

It's Raining Words game. Program spring-colored umbrella cutouts with words that the children can "sound-out."

Note: If you use Saxon Phonics, it fits appropriately with the phonics curriculum.

Next, program a supply of raindrops with the necessary letters to spell each of the words on the umbrellas.

Laminate the pieces and add them to a center. To play: students spell the words on each umbrella by piecing them together with the raindrop letters.

April Showers center game. (Number-word recognition game.)

For each number that you want to practice, photocopy a umbrella pattern on construction paper.

Program each umbrella with a different number word; then cut out a supply of construction paper raindrops. Laminate all the pieces; then store them in a decorated envelope.

To play: Place the corresponding number of raindrops over each umbrella.

Two Boys Drop Bricks into a Puddle
Baker, Shirley
Buy This Allposters.com

Do your kids want to go outside and play in the puddles on a rainy day? Don't worry. They won't melt or catch a deadly disease. Children love playing outside on a rainy day and getting wet is just part of the fun.

Paper boats: If it is raining hard, streams may form in dips in the ground or near the curb of a street. These streams are wonderful for floating paper boats. Make dams and canals for the boats to sail through.

Chalk becomes a new art medium when you use it on wet pavement. Try sidewalk chalk the next time it rains.

The Waterworks Water Works Card Game 1972 Edition is a fun game where you complete your own pipeline from valve to spout by connecting ten pipe cards in between. But watch out for leaks! You'll have to repair pipes, make detours and as your opponents' spring leaks on your pipelines! I prefer the older editions to the newer ones as the older versions come with metal wrenches rather than cardboard ones and the tray for holding the cards looks like an old fashioned white claw foot tub rather than just a plastic card holder.

How about making your own water pipes and seeing how much water you can get to flow through them on a very rainy day. My kids tried it with Marble Works tunnels under the rain spout. Others have used toilet paper tubes and funnels.

How about going on a nature walk on a rainy day? Look at the way the rain forms on the trail, drips off the leaves and runs down the bark of a tree. Gently pick up a rock and look underneath. Are there any animals hiding there? Be sure to replace the rock when finished. Are there certain trees that provide more shelter from the rain than others?

Hurray for rainy days! Slip on your rainboots and raincoat. Grab your umbrella. Invite a couple of friends and you are all ready for a rainy day adventure. If it's warm enough you don't even need the boots and coat. Just enjoy getting wet.

Rain and a few friends can turn a rainy day into a wet and wild wonderland. Raincoats, boots, and umbrellas could keep them dry as they venture outside but if it's warm enough, how about just getting wet?

1. Robin in the Rain Parade: Puff out your chest and strut around the yard. Stand tall on a post, bench or other high spot and call out your cheeriest tweet. Share some gummy worms when you are finished.

2. Record Rainfall Amounts: Set out a clear jar or glass with straight sides. Use a ruler to measure how much rain falls during the storm. Keep track of how much rain falls each day for a month or a year. Over time you may be able to predict how much rain will fall each month in the micro climate of your backyard.

3. Rainy Day Sidewalk Art: When wet the sidewalk or even a wall can be a delightful place to draw with sidewalk chalk. The chalk goes on smoother and the colors are deeper and richer. Draw a mural of your favorite rainy day activities.

There is a new group being formed in Squidooville. It's called A Walk in the Woods.

Whitefoot the Wood Mouse is inviting you to join him there. If you are a member of Squidoo and you may join the group.

The exposure that your lens gets by joining will boost your lens rank and add to the number of web pages linking back to your lens.

If you are not yet a member of Squidoo you can still come over and read about those who are. Come take A Walk in the Woods.

My favorite rainy day poem has been turned into on or my favorite rainy day books. Be sure to check out It's Raining, It's Pouring. Read about the rain with your children and then go outside to enjoy the raindrops, puddles and all the delight of a rainy day!


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