Sunday School: Rainy Day Fun

Welcome to the Connected Mom Sunday School. No matter what the course of your child's education, be it unschooling, homeschooling, or conventional schooling, The Connected Mom Sunday School aims to provide you with fun and easy activities for children of all ages and stages. (Have an idea for a Connected Mom Sunday School activity or theme? Either comment below or send your idea to connectedmom (dot) julian (at) gmail (dot) com.)

April showers are supposed to bring May flowers, right? This year, it seems that April showers just brought, uh, more showers. While you are cooped up inside, why not take advantage of the time together and do some fun rain-related activities?

Toddler:

Cuddle up together and read a picture book about rain or clouds. It Looked Like Spilt Milk by Charles G. Shaw is a personal favorite of mine. Other good choices are Little Cloud by Eric Carle and Rain Feet by Angela Johnson. Sing some rain related songs: there's Rain, Rain, Go Away! and The Eensy Weensy Spider. You can also try this cute song, to the tune of I'm a Little Teapot:

I'm a little rain cloud fat and round
When it thunders I make this sound.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Rolling around.
Splash! The rain comes tumbling down.

There's no rule that says you have to stay inside, either. If you like, go outside and take a walk under an umbrella. Smell the fresh air and listen to the raindrops hitting the umbrella.


Preschool:

Weather Watching Jars

Family Fun shares a great idea to help your child learn about weather and counting. Save empty jars (from peanut butter, etc.) and label each one with a weather pattern that occurs in your area. Some suggestions include sunny, rainy, cloudy, and windy. Place 31 pom-poms in a bowl nearby. Each day, look out the window with your child and determine the weather. (If you like, go outside and experience it firsthand!) Drop one pom-pom into the corresponding jar. At the end of the month, count the number of pom-poms in each jar. Talk about the patterns you have discovered in your local weather. Older children may also like to graph the results.


School-aged child:

Make a Rain Gauge

Help your child make a simple rain gauge to measure the rainfall. Collect a clean empty jar with straight sides, scissors, and wide clear tape (like packing tape). Print out a rain gauge ruler. The Miami Museum of Science offers one for free on their website. Cut out the ruler and cover it well on both sides with the packing tape. Stand the ruler inside the jar with the bottom of the ruler touching the bottom of the jar. Tape the top of the ruler to the inside of the jar to hold it in place. Place your rain gauge outside and look at it each day to see how much it has rained. Your child may like to graph this also.

Older child (10+):

Indoor Rain Shower

Rain outside is not always fun, but making your own indoor rain shower is a different story! Exploring Nature tells how. You will need two pie pans, ice cubes, an oven mitt, and a teapot. Fill the teapot with water and bring it to a boil. Fill one pie pan with cold water and ice cubes. Once the water in the teapot boils, protect your hand with the oven mitt as you fill the second pie pan with boiling water. Hold the pan with the ice cubes above the pan with the boiling water. Watch as the water vapor from the steaming hot pan collects on the bottom of the chilled pan. Soon it will begin to fall in drops. Talk with your child about how nature does this on a larger scale. Water vapor rises and hits the cold atmosphere. This turns it into droplets, which fall as rain.