While it might not be easy to predict exactly when rain will fall, there can be no doubt that at some point, it will! In our role as educators, it is vital that we promote positive attitudes in young children, and this includes being out and about in all kinds of weather. It is important, too, that we value and welcome the range of learning opportunities that the rain brings, before, during and after it falls.
Such positive attitudes will be enhanced further if children are not only taken outside to experience the rain, but are also given the opportunity to revisit and further explore such experiences indoors. This gives status to outdoor activities, not just with the children but also to parents and carers, some of whom may be unsure about the value of outdoor learning opportunities, especially in inclement weather.
It goes without saying that if the most is to be made of the wet weather, then the correct clothing, for both children and adults, should be made available. If adults are to interact positively with children and to support and enhance their learning, then they need to feel comfortable too.
For the most exciting opportunities, look at what fascinates and intrigues children, and follow their lead. Look back to your own childhood. What was it about the wet weather that you enjoyed? Whether it was watching the rainbows made in puddles by drops of engine oil from passing cars, or squelching in the mud in your favourite wellies, or even watching raindrops race down a window pane, there are aspects of all these activities that can be turned into valuable learning opportunities for the children in your setting.
SMALL-WORLD AREA
Create a wet world in a builder's tray with:
- play people - adults and children (these must be waterproof)
- small-world pet figures - cats, dogs rabbits, guinea pigs
- a range of natural materials - small logs, pebbles, gravel, shingle
- some artificial grass
Ensure that the children can have access to water.
LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES
Story-making
Problem-solving
Sorting and classifying
Sequencing and ordering
Counting
Exploring properties of materials
ADULT ROLE
First, build the small world with a group of children. Which aspects of
their rainy day experiences would they like to recreate? Adults could
add clipboards, paper and pens for:
- mark-making
- children's own plans and diagrams
- non-narrative writing (lists, instructions, etc)
- camera, still and moving images, for:
Capturing images from the small world to use for bookmaking
Filming children's own narratives, to share with others
MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS TO USE FOR:
- creating sound effects for the small world
- accompanying newly composed songs based on the small-world play.
- creating musical patterns inspired by the vehicles
LAMINATED CARDS WITH RELATED RHYMES AND SONGS FOR:
- sharing together
- reading
- singing
SMALL WATERING CANS, WHICH CAN BE USED TO MAKE IT 'RAIN', FOR:
- extending vocabulary
- asking questions about how things happen and why
- identifying changes in the environment
CREATIVE WORKSHOP
Provide in this area:
- a wide range of papers, coloured and white
- a selection of tissue papers, for tearing
- glitter
- glue, glue spreaders
- paint powder and containers, for children to mix their own paints
- a selection of brushes
LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES
Making patterns
Exploring texture
Responding in a variety of ways to what they see, hear, think and feel
Developing motor skills
ADULT ROLE
The adult could engage with the children to talk about:
- patterns
- texture in three dimensions
- ways of representing feelings
Ask questions such as: How did you feel being in the rain? Can colours change how you feel? What does a rainy day remind you of? How can we show other people what it was like to be in the rain?
Extend the learning opportunities by sharing paintings with the children such as 'Les Parapluies' by Renoir. However, it is important that the children are not expected to 'copy' this image - rather, it is to be used for discussion and comparison.
CONSTRUCTION PLAY
In this area, provide:
- a range of construction equipment
- vehicles
- small-world figures
- junk modelling materials
- masking tape
- a range of fabrics
- cardboard boxes
- pieces of plastic in various colours
LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES
Developing motor skills
Making stories
Recreating roles and experiences
Extending vocabulary
Solving problems, measuring, estimating
ADULT ROLE
The adult could add:
Clipboards and drawing board which can be used for:
- mark-making and recording
- drawing, designing, planning
Large sheets of paper, felt pens and photo holders (the type with a
crocodile clip) that could be used for:
- creating maps
- inventing imaginary worlds
- making signs and labels
- overhead transparencies printed with images of the rain.
Use an OHP to project these behind the construction play area, so that
children will have a sense of playing in the rain! This will encourage:
- use imagination in role play and stories
GRAPHICS AREA
In this area, provide:
- a range of book-making materials so that children can make marks about their experiences, or produce their own 'Rainy Day Books'. Make sure that you add paper in shades of blue and grey, as well as a range of shiny papers and papers in droplet shapes.
- Make marbled paper with the children and offer a range of sheets.
- Aquarelle pencils, used in conjunction with a small brush and water, would inspire many children to write about their wet play experiences.
- Provide scissors that cut wavy edge borders, so that children can give their writing, drawing and mark-making a watery edge.
- Ensure that plenty of clipboards are available so that children can write in any area of the setting.
LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES
Co-operation and collaboration
Talk for a variety of purposes
Writing for a range of purposes
Explore and experiment with sounds, words and texts
ADULT ROLE
- Responding positively and valuing children's independent attempts at writing.
- Planning shared writing sessions based on children's ideas, to demonstrate writing strategies and to develop understanding of the relationship between spoken and written language.
- Providing a place for children to display their writing.
OUTDOOR AREA
Why not use the rain as an opportunity for physical development?
- Show the children the famous scene from 'Singing in the Rain' where Gene Kelly dances with his umbrella.
- Take the children outside, with their umbrellas, appropriately dressed of course, to 'dance in the rain'.
LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES
Move with imagination
Move with confidence and control
Recognise the changes that happen to their bodies when they are active
Recreating roles and experiences, imaginative play
Respond in a variety of ways to what they see, hear and feel
ADULT ROLE
- Support children's individuality and creativity in creating movements and dance routines.
- Respond positively to their efforts.
- Record the outcomes of this activity through photography, both still and moving images.
CREATIVITY
Decorate your umbrellas to offer unusual experiences in the rain.
- You will need: umbrellas that have a small spike; string, ribbons, strips of foil and a selection of objects such as corks, small bells, buttons, etc.
- Attach the objects to a piece of string or ribbon, then to the umbrella.
- Go out in the rain to experience the various sights and sounds.
LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES
Extend vocabulary
Use talk to clarify and sequence thinking, ideas, feelings and events
Ask questions about how things happen and why
Recognise and explore how sounds can be changed
ADULT ROLE
- Talk to the children about what they can see, hear and feel.
- Make a note of their questions, comments and observations.
- Encourage the children to think of other ways that they can change
what they hear under the umbrellas.
- Provide sound recording equipment, for revisiting experiences indoors.
BOOK AREA
- Obtain a selection of the books recommended in the Book Box (right) and display them as a collection that children can readily access for themselves.
- Where possible, ensure that there are multiple copies of the most popular books to encourage the children to share books together.
- Plan to use the collection in read-aloud sessions (non-fiction as well as fiction). Discuss the pictures; pick out some fascinating facts; encourage the children to be experts and let them talk to you about what they already know.
- Add relevant magazines to the book corner. Children may bring some in of their own accord.
ADULT ROLE
- Make time to observe the children who use the book corner, and their reading preferences.
- Encourage the use of the books in other areas, including outdoors.
RESOURCE BOX
Building up a collection of resources around different types of weather is an enjoyable and exciting thing to do. The beginnings of a collection are outlined below, but make sure practitioners, parents and children know this collection can be added to at any time.
Keep a good balance of both purchased and free and found resources. Re-using domestic items such as squeezy bottles, unused hoses and meat basters encourages creativity and could inspire parents to try similar activities at home.
To support children's interest in the rain, have at the ready:
- a collection of squirty bottles of various types and sizes. These can be used for squirting patterns into puddles, and can also be used indoors with dry sand, for replicating the impact of rain upon dry ground. Lakeland sells a selection of nozzles that can be screwed to empty plastic bottles (www.lakeland.com).
- chalks, for drawing round puddles, and mark-making on wet surfaces
- a selection of fabric samples for 'waterproof' investigations
- images of the rain and its impact, collected from various sources, including books, magazines, out-of-date calendars and the internet. Laminate these for durability, and for making them easy to use outside. Ensure that local images and images taken with and by the children are also added, to personalise the resource.
- a range of poems, songs and weather sayings related to the rain, again laminated for use outside. Ideally, these should be on individual cards, for practitioners to use with small groups of children.
- books, fiction and non-fiction (see Book Box, p26)
- a small selection of small-world figures, for children to use in the rain, to enhance storymaking opportunities
- pebbles, stones and shells for the children to place in puddles, to see the changes that occur when they get wet.
EXPLORING CHILDREN'S INTERESTS
Tuning in
Making time to talk to parents and carers is an important way of finding out about children's current interests and about what matters to them. Such information helps practitioners provide a curriculum that is relevant and meaningful.
Having an existing interest in a particular theme means that children approach it with enthusiasm and expertise, giving them confidence and increased motivation to engage in the activities provided. Children can use this expertise best in carefully planned, open-ended learning opportunities without prescribed uniform outcomes.
Enhancing provision
Any significant interest that a child or children may have should be explored by enhancing a setting's continuous provision - that is, by adding theme-based resources to the areas of provision that is available daily to children and should comprise:
- role play
- small-world play
- construction play
- sand and water
- malleable materials
- creative workshop area
- graphics area
- book area.
By taking this approach, children can choose to engage with the theme or pursue their own interests and learning independently. Adults need to recognise that children require a suitable length of time to explore any interests in depth and to develop their own ideas.
ADULT ROLE
If children's interests are to be used to create the best possible learning opportunities, the adult role is crucial.
Adults need to be able to:
- enhance continuous provision to reflect children's interests
- use enhancements to plan meaningful learning opportunities across all areas of the EYFS
- know when to intervene in children's play and when to stand back
- recognise that children will need a suitable length of time to explore any area of provision to develop their own ideas
- model skills, language and behaviours
- recognise how observation, assessment and reflection on children's play can enhance their understanding of what young children know and recognise how these should inform their future planning.
AREAS OF LEARNING
Personal, social and emotional development
Communication, language and literacy
Problem solving, reasoning and numeracy
Knowledge and understanding of the world
Physical development
Creative development
BOOK BOX
There is a wide selection of fiction and non-fiction books available about rain and wet weather, as well as numerous poems, songs, proverbs and sayings.
Don't forget media texts too. Many children will be familiar with the song 'April Showers' from the Disney film 'Bambi', for example.
- Alfie's Feet by Shirley Hughes (Red Fox) is a timeless story about Alfie and his struggle to master a new pair of boots. His difficulties will draw empathy from many children.
- Alfie Weather by Shirley Hughes (Red Fox) offers a range of short stories to enhance the theme.
- Out and About by Shirley Hughes (Walker Books) is a poetry anthology that has an excellent selection of rain-related verse, including a splendid poem about mud.
- Bringing the Rain to Kapiti Plain by Verna Aardema (Macmillan Children's Books) is a lyrical story, told in a similar structure to 'This is the House that Jack Built'. It tells the story of Kipat and the reed for the rains to fall in his home continent of Africa.
- Wet World written by Norma Simon and illustrated by Alexi Natchev (Walker Books) is a truly evocative book, both in pictures and in text. It gets to the heart of what is pleasurable about wet weather, and offers a child's-eye perspective on a rainy day.
- Daft Bat by Jeanne Willis and Tony Ross (Andersen Press) is a fantastic book that will make you look at life from a different point of view. Bat asks the animals for an umbrella, so he can keep his feet dry in the rain!
- Noah's Ark by Lucy Cousins (Walker Books, book and DVD). No exploration of the rain could be complete without reference to Noah's ark. There are numerous versions of this story available. I have chosen this example because many children will be familiar with the work of Lucy Cousins from her 'Maisie' books. Having the DVD available will give children the opportunity to watch the story on screen, as well as hear it read out loud.
- Splish, Splash, Splosh by Mick Manning and Brita Granstrom (Franklin Watts) is an excellent non-fiction book for sharing that celebrates and informs on all aspects of wet weather.
- Kipper's Rainy Day by Mick Inkpen (Hodder Children's Books). The children will enjoy seeing the exploits of a familiar character on a rainy day.
- Duckie's Rainbow by Frances Barry (Candlewick Press) is a terrific book, cleverly constructed so that young children can see how the colours of the rainbow build together as Duckie travels on her journey home - past the red poppies, the orange bridge and the big green tree, etc. A lovely surprise awaits at the end!
- Incey Wincey Spider illustrated by Annie Kubler (Sign and Singalong - Child's Play) is a well-loved favourite, and is available as a board book in the Sign and Singalong series. Make sure that you keep a spider finger puppet with the book, so that children can enjoy reading to it, and acting out the rhyme. (Finger puppet spider available from www.puppetsbypost.com)
Build up a collection of rainy songs and poems. These might include classics such as 'I Hear Thunder' and 'Doctor Foster went to Gloucester'.
- Seasons - Songs for Four-to Seven-year-olds by Ana Sanderson (A&C Black Publishers) comes complete with an audio CD, and offers a range of suitable material, for use indoors and out. Type up the children's favourites, add their illustrations, and keep these cards in the book corner, so that children can revisit their favourites together.
