Storytime and Creative Play: Rain Rain Rain!

Here are two of our favorite stories about rain and a fun activity you can do to go with these stories.
The Rain Came Down by David Shannon - It is amazing what can happen in this little community when it starts to rain! This is such a fun story with darling illustrations!

MAKE RAIN IN A JAR: (please excuse the puddle on my counter in the above photo- just makin' some rain and the ice melted a bit too much:) If your children are in elementary school, they may have done this little experiment at sometime. It was really fun for my pre-schooler to do.

You need: glass jar with metal lid, hot water, ice cubes

Put the hot water in the jar. We experimented a bit with temperature, and you want it really hot but not quite boiling. Put the lid on top but upside down. Fill with ice cubes. Wait for a few minutes, and you will be able to see moisture forming in the jar, and dripping down like rain. It was really fun to watch it drip down in the middle of the jar and not just on the sides of the jar. It really looked like rain!

Why this works: Warm moist air from the hot water rises up and hits the cold air created from the ice cubes. It condenses and turns to water vapor and rains!

Another favorite rain story: Peter Spier's RAIN. This is a wordless picture book with darling illustrations. I love this book because it allows kids to use their imagination, and language skills, to tell the story themselves. Very cute book!

Hope you are enjoying your April Showers!