Guest Posted January 13, 2008 Share Posted January 13, 2008 (edited) The weather last week, as we all know, was abysmal - and the prospect for the coming week is pretty much the same. Does anyone have any suggestions for activities in the rain? WE have no covered area (just a concrete playground) so we've just had hoops, bikes, weaving in the fence with plastic strips and painting on the wet ground. I'd appreciate any other ideas. Edited January 13, 2008 by Guest Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 13, 2008 Share Posted January 13, 2008 Look at the pattern of the rain in the puddles ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest tinkerbell Posted January 13, 2008 Share Posted January 13, 2008 Have you seen the thread on guttering? Tinkerbellx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 13, 2008 Share Posted January 13, 2008 Years ago I was inspired by the poet & author Peter Dixon, especially one of his books called "Puddle Jumping", ( I think the book is out of print now ) In it he describes an activity with puddles. Each child has a clear container, preferably with a screw lid. The 'task' is to 'catch their own puddle to take home'. provide an assortment of utensils, some which will collate water, such as sponges, spoons etc and some which won't. The children experiment on how to get a puddle into their container, label the container "Lucy's Puddle", Jack's Puddle" etc. Our children loved this activity and proudly took their 'puddles' home to keep. Word of warning, if there is a large puddle inevitably a child will walk to the centre of it and squat down to scoop the water into his/her container only to get a very wet bottom But hey, that's all part of the fun, or you could encourage them to 'scoop' from the edge. If possible draw a chalk mark around the puddle so that the children can see how it reduces in size as it is collected. Peggy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rea Posted January 13, 2008 Share Posted January 13, 2008 First stop in the morning - pound shop for some sponges! Thanks Peggy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 13, 2008 Share Posted January 13, 2008 Do you have any materials with which the children could try to construct some sort of shelter? Love the puddle collecting idea. At my pre-school we are just about to try and find some funds to buy some robust waterproofs! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 13, 2008 Share Posted January 13, 2008 well it was well worth asking! And I just happen to have a load of sponges that I was going to use for something else. It never occurred to me to use them for the rain. I think they will enjoy that. Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 13, 2008 Share Posted January 13, 2008 (edited) I did have a tarpaulin to make a tent but it was too windy . Hopefully I can use it this week. Thanks Edited January 13, 2008 by Guest Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 14, 2008 Share Posted January 14, 2008 Listen to the rain!!! use brollies to listen to the rain beating on the top, cover some bollies with tin foil to make a different sound, cover ice cream tubs with different things such as cling film, tin foil etc to hear the difference! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dublinbay Posted January 14, 2008 Share Posted January 14, 2008 We washed the walls/windows using spray bottles, paint-rollers and squeegy thingeys (sp) today in the rain. Great fun! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deb Posted January 14, 2008 Share Posted January 14, 2008 On Friday we had one little girl who was really interested in the puddles, she went around trying to scoop up water into her little scoop (the kind you get say in baby's formula milk). It's full, she said showing me the scoop with a little water in the bottom. Will try the puddle collecting method next time! We then talked about full and empty etc. After placing the scoop on the floor, doing a rain dance around it and waiting for it to fill up, someone suggested catching the larger rain drops from the guttering which we did. Not an easy thing to do but occupied this little girl and another little boy for at least another 5 minutes. We counted the rain drops as we managed to catch them in the scoop. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 14, 2008 Share Posted January 14, 2008 Went out for a walk in the pouring rain...wellies, umbrellas & raincoats. Children loved jumping in and out of the puddles..watching the 'round' shape appear as the rain drops hit the puddle. We talked about the biggest, smallest, muddiest puddles that we found. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rea Posted January 14, 2008 Share Posted January 14, 2008 If you've got access to a freezer, place a tray of flour outside for afew seconds/minutes to collect rain drops. Place in the tray in the freezer and freeze the raindrops. Apparently its how scientists measure rain, each drop has to be a certain size before its considered real rain. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Posted January 14, 2008 Share Posted January 14, 2008 We put the plastic role play helmets like police , fireman and builders also building with the crates- I have rules of no more than 3 or 4 high depending on the wind and the size of children involved and they are not allowed to walk/climb on crates once they are more than one high as they do not always connect them together properly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 17, 2008 Share Posted January 17, 2008 Love all these ideas- we did the puddle collecting activity yesterday and it went really well- thanks for that idea- we had such a fantastic time and the rest of the school got to hear about it as well and wanted to join in with all the fun! We are also making animal shelters out of the rain using natural materials. We examined a birds nest and then went out in the rain to collect the material we could use to make a nest for a bird that would give them shelter from the rain. We have also put up a tent with activities inside for the children to do, they love going in there with the TA to do reading and puzzles etc. We are also doing experiments with collecting rain and seeing which containers collect the most rain and why. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 17, 2008 Share Posted January 17, 2008 (edited) I have the fizzy hair to prove I was out there today.We had the bikes because the main focus was to 'find' the lost teddy in the bushes.Morning children spotted their bear really quickly and had some great ideas.Tomorrow we are brainstorming with the children what to do next which will inform next weeks planning. J in the morning "We have to find an old lady to knit his ear" as my working partner has knitted the 2 bears she wasn't amused W in the afternoon "Somebody REALLY stupid must have put him there" afraid that REALLY stupid person was me I don't mind going out with the children in the rain, our main problem is wind as the playground is totally exposed.The wind hits the main school building creates a wind tunnel of our north facing playground and gets lots of debris blowing through.We have barely been out this last 2 weeks on health and safety grounds but better safe than sorry. Edited January 17, 2008 by Guest Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 21, 2008 Share Posted January 21, 2008 I can identify with that last bit, Biccy! We had a play mat that looked more like a flying carpet one day recently! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 21, 2008 Share Posted January 21, 2008 Oooh my first post - how exciting! We often go out to play in the rain (wellies and umbrellas of course!) Have enough umbrellas for one between two which is always good for sharing. The best bit of last week was when one girl came in with a VERY wet left foot as her boot had holes in - so she found out first hand why wellies are normally the best thing to wear (and the new boots she brought in are pink and sparkly so she was even more impressed then!) We also 'caught' raindrops on large bits of sugar paper so children could see what happened as the drops hit the paper, soaked through to other side, etc. We then tried to make paper as wet as possible - they loved it! Love the uddle catching idea by the way - want to try that one! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susan Posted January 21, 2008 Share Posted January 21, 2008 Hi purplemagic and welcome! Hope that will be the first post of many. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dublinbay Posted January 21, 2008 Share Posted January 21, 2008 Hello and welcome from me too Purplemagic! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sue R Posted January 21, 2008 Share Posted January 21, 2008 Hello from me, too! We went out in the rain last week when Ofsted were in (we always do, not just then!!) We were chalking in the rain, puddle jumping (will collect next time, I forgot that!) and putting hand wash in the puddles to see what happened... Inspector was very positive about our commitment to outdoor play! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rea Posted January 21, 2008 Share Posted January 21, 2008 Hi purplemagic, love the name, welcome Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lou Posted January 21, 2008 Share Posted January 21, 2008 Hi We put some washing up liquid in the puddles. We then either watch the rain make bubbles (if it is heavy enough) or use sticks. spoons or just about anything to hand to whisk so it will make bubbles. Like all the other ideas. Looks like we will be trying them out this week. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 6, 2009 Share Posted October 6, 2009 (edited) We've had heavy rain today but no wind and it was mild-ideal for playing in.I come home and searched the forum for some more ideas and found this old thread so I will add todays activities. I put the tuff spot out with shells and rubber ducks but no water in (except the rain falling) we caught rain in containers, shook our umbrellas over it , caught some water from a drain pipe and scooped up a puddle to make enough water for the ducks to eventually float. The another activity was a small table with a washing up bowl, liquid and dish wash brushes with the teaset.The children loved washing up in the rain and when the water has gone you scoop up puddle and carry on The other activity wasn't planned but involved blocking the playground drain with bark chippings , waiting for a REALLY heavy downpour to form a lake then puddle jumping into it from the top of brick. I had a great day outside so off to check the weather forcast Anyone else got anything new to add??? Edited October 6, 2009 by Guest Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Upsy Daisy Posted October 6, 2009 Share Posted October 6, 2009 Making little shelters out of sticks and different fabrics. Put a piece of sugar paper under each and see which gets wet first. You can also do it by putting different fabrics over the tops of jam jars with the paper in the bottom. great way to find out which fabrics are waterproof. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 6, 2009 Share Posted October 6, 2009 Great thread! Came on to the forum to ask about rainy activities as had a bit of a block today - really hope it rains tomorrow! Carrots x Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rufus Posted October 6, 2009 Share Posted October 6, 2009 I like to do colour mixing in the puddles, it's much more fun doing it on a large scale Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
strawberry10 Posted October 6, 2009 Share Posted October 6, 2009 Fantastic ideas! I was looking for a bit of inspiration to make the outdoor provision more exciting in this very wet weather - I am actually looking forward to some rain again tomorrow now! Thank you all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 6, 2009 Share Posted October 6, 2009 can i ask do u provide the wellies for the children or ask them to bring them in? kate Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 6, 2009 Share Posted October 6, 2009 We ask the parents to bring wellies in for the children. Most leave them at school permanently, but a few take them home for the weekend. Carrots xxx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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