It's bound to rain now the summer holidays are here so celebrate the weather with this easy activity.
Now the summer holidays are stretching lazily in front of us it's safe to assume the heavens will open. And while I don't want to jinx things, it's best to have a few wet weather activities up your sleeve.
You can always do a spot of indoor gardening, or make a kite or a bird feeder. Or you can use the weather to help entertain your children and make a rain catcher, like Jen at The Madhouse.
You will need:
- A plastic drink bottle, with the label removed
- Sharp knife
- Duct tape
- Wooden spoon
- Tape measure
- Permanent pen and felt markers
- Stickers, pipe cleaners and PVA glue (optional).
This is what you do:
- Cut the top off the bottle with the knife, about a quarter of the way down and remove the lid
- Decorate the bottle with the stickers, adding a layer of PVA glue to help protect them
- Put marbles, stones or sand in the bottom to weigh it down
- Place the top of the bottle upside down in the decorated part
- Stick them together with duct tape
- Mark centimetres along the handle of the spoon with the tape measure and permanent marker
- Decorate the spoon with a cheery face (we also added pipe cleaner arms)
- Place against a wall and do a rain dance (we keep the wooden spoon in a nearby flower pot so it's ready for use).
The information can be used in a weather book or charted, there's printable graph paper if you don't have any to hand. But why stop at making a rain catcher? Here's an activity showing you how to make a weather station.
Photo: Debbie Webber
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admin
23 July, 2010
Thanks for this Deb - my children have seen these being made on Cbeebies and wanted to make some, so this is great timing!
Leigh
Ready for Ten Team
mum
24 July, 2010
This is definitely something we should make. We have plenty of rain here in Wales and the summer holidays is always a great opportunity to measure it! What a great idea.
26 July, 2010
does anyone have any ideas for group work activities with children 7-13yrs. a group where children have a parent/sibling/grandparent etc who is terminally ill - we are planning a day of fun, delight and laughter for these children so that they can enjoy themselves without worrying about sad events in their life on that day.
thanks
mum
28 July, 2010
Hi Mrs O, what a wonderful thing to do for those children, I hope they have a memorable day.
You don't mention if you will have to be inside or out but parachute games are always a big hit (does require one of those large, colourful parachutes though), or perhaps a game of rounders, or a sort of sports day (without being too competitive), or a nature scavenger hunt or a treasure hunt (with clues and chocolate).
I guess if you're inside it's probably a bit trickier but t-shirt painting is a good one and appealing to younger and older children, or perhaps a scrapheap challenge using materials from the recycling bin (scapstores are a wonderful source of cheap or free materials, if you Google it there are ones nationwide) or get them to make a huge piece of artwork together. Perhaps you could think of a theme for the day (like movie stars or rock stars) and have them dress up, do art and craft activities centred around that. Or perhaps they can put on a mini play? Perhaps they could form a band (not sure how many children you're working with) and could design their costumes (painting the t-shirts), doing outrageous hair, face-paints, make the instruments then put on a very mini concert.
Goodness, I seem to have got a bit carried away there! Hope you find something helpful amid my ramblings! Good luck.