By Awnali Mills
It seems like we’ve had rain here every day for weeks. Well, maybe not Every Day, but it seems like it! So it seemed appropriate to have a rainy day storytime! The books I chose were Raindrops Roll by April Pulley Sayre and Blue on Blue by Dianne White.
After our opening song, the kids and I did a weather check with my weather flannels. We decided that it was a completely cloudy day. We talked about the different sorts of things we do in different kinds of weather, and then sang Sun Is Shining, What Should I Do? to the tune of Skip to My Lou.
Sun is shining, what should I do?
Sun is shining, what should I do?
Sun is shining, what should I do?
What should I do my darling?
Slather on sunscreen, that’s what I’ll do
Slather on sunscreen, that’s what I’ll do
Slather on sunscreen, that’s what I’ll do
That’s what I’ll do my darling
Verses
Rain is falling… Wear my rainboots…
Wind is blowing… Put my hood up…
Snow is falling… Pull on mittens…
Then we read Raiindrops Roll and did the flannel Five Little Raindrops that I got from In the Children’s Room.
Counting Up:
One little raindrop in the dark, dark sky
Two little raindrops watch the clouds roll by
Three little raindrops go splat, splat, SPLAT
Four little raindrops, we’ll need boots for that!
Five little raindrops and still no sun?
That’s too much for us, we’d better… RUN!
Counting Down:
Five little raindrops above the forest floor,
One fell away and then there were four.
Four little raindrops hanging from a tree,
One dripped down and then there were three.
Three little raindrops without a thing to do,
One went SPLAT and then there were two.
Two little raindrops waiting on the sun ,
One hit the ground and then there was one.
One lonely raindrop was just about done,
He fell down and then there were none.
I handed out some rhythm sticks (two per child, of course) and we did Thunder and Raindrops that I got from Rachel Rambach.
Hear the thunder all around
As our rhythm sticks hit the ground
Boom boom boom, boom boom boom
Hit the ground, make a thunder sound
Hear the raindrops all around
As our rhythm sticks hit the ground
Pitter patter, pitter patter
Hit the ground make a raindrop sound
Thunder boom, raindrops pitter patter
Thunder boom, raindrops pitter patter
Shhh, wait…..here we go again!
(Repeat)
Shhh, wait….the sun came out!
We kept our rhythm sticks and did the little rhyme This Little Wind. I made up little motions to do with the rhythm sticks while we said it. We practiced once and then did it again.
This little wind blows rain, (tap sticks gently on ground)
This little wind drifts snow. (rub sticks together)
This little wind brings the sunshine, (make big circle with sticks)
This little wind whistles low. (put sticks on either side of mouth and blow)
And this little wind
Rocks the baby birds to and fro. (make swaying motions with sticks)
Our last book was Blue on Blue, which is my absolute favorite storm book. It’s simple, but the pictures are great, and the story just lends itself to dramatic reading. Kids are almost always glued to the story.
Our last flannel was Counting Raindrops. I had 5 flannel umbrellas with numbers on them and little flannel raindrops. The children helped me put the right number of raindrops on each umbrella. This was very popular, and everyone got a chance to contribute. Then I handed out scarves to grownups and children alike, and had everyone stand up while I played Raining Outside from the album Yummy Yellow by Eric Litwin. This isn’t a usual type of song for my storytimes, as it’s fairly mellow, but I felt like it would lend itself to scarf play. Boy, was I right! I was awed by how everyone embraced dancing to the song. I saw sheer delight on grownup faces, as they flung their scarves around, and that delighted the children who responded with great enthusiasm. One little girl who had been very solemn the entire time just lit up when I floated my scarf onto her head and lifted it off in a peek-a-boo move. I was not the only one disappointed when the song ended.
At the beginning of storytime, I had shown a picture of a rainbow and we had talked about how you have to have both sun and rain to have rainbows. I had promised the kids rainbows, and I delivered. I had intended to use a prism to show rainbows, but instead borrowed rainbow glasses from a co-worker (sort of like these). There were several pairs that we shared around, and the kids (and several grownups) were thrilled by getting to see rainbows shining all over the room. It’s always a good day when storytime ends with rainbows!
The Librarian Is on The Loose 