Spring has sprung and that means April Showers are upon us! In this post you will find several fun and engaging rainy weather themed activities for preschool designed to enhance fine motor skills, name building, alphabet knowledge, letter sound recognition, as well as counting.
Whenever I decide to explore a new theme, I always start with the literature. One of my favorite things about teaching is curating the children’s books to go along with the changing themes. I love scouring the library and exploring other teacher’s suggestions for new read alouds.
To start our rainy weather day, we read Red Rubber Boot Day, by Mary Lyn Ray. The simple, relatable story is about a child who tries very hard to entertain himself inside the house on a wet, rainy day. But in the end, he decides to put on his boots and his raincoat and enjoy the rainy day outside.
After the story, I gave my preschoolers 12 foam sheets shaped like puddles. Each “puddle” was numbered (1 – 12). I directed them to make a path with the puddles for us to hop through. Emmett, my five year old, and Lillian, my two year old, worked together to lay out a path across the floor. They happily hopped from puddle to puddle, counting out 1 through 12. Next, we rearranged the puddles into a random group and I grabbed two large foam dice. Emmett and I took turns rolling the dice. After each roll, we identified the number, located the corresponding puddle, and jumped in the puddle that number of times. They had so much fun with this!
Worm Weather, by Jean Taft is a particular favorite in my house because my kids are obsessed with worms! We live on a wooded lot and spend a lot of time outside, so if my kids come up to me with their hands cupped, chances are they have a worm. The story, Worm Weather, is about a brother and a sister who get caught in the rain. It is playful and full of rhyme.
To compliment the story, I gave Emmett a Worm Name Puzzle. Even though Emmett knows how to spell his name, he still had to pay close attention. The multiple m’s and t’s made Emmett have to attend to the picture and the letters as he put the puzzle together.
Because Worm Weather is told in rhyme, I decided to continue to reinforce rhyming with Emmett using these Worm Rhyme Match Cards. We used the cards to play Concentration, but they can also be used to find a partner or simply match them together.
Throughout the game, Emmett made a couple of mistakes. He still forgets that rhyming words sound the same at the end and not the beginning. When he tried to match “bee” and “boat,” that gave me an opportunity to reinforce the concept of rhyming words. Practice makes progress! If you’d like to grab the Word Name Puzzle or Worm Rhyme Cards, keep scrolling. The links are at the bottom of this post.
After the Worm Rhyme Card Match, I gave Emmett a consonant matching game to do independently. To prepare this, I simply printed out the cloud, glued it a cereal box and cut it out along the outline. Then I gathered all the consonants in my Target letter clips.
Emmett worked independently to match the uppercase consonant clips to the lowercase consonants along the edge of the cloud. This was a perfect way to strengthen those fine motor skills and alphabet knowledge at the same time. This printable is FREE in my TpT shop. This link is also at the bottom on this post.
While Emmett was working hard on his consonant cloud, I sat with Lillian as she explored our weather themed sensory bin. She kept very busy scooping rice from one bowl to the next.
I added four little bowls to the bin with the intention of having the preschoolers sort the different types of weather in the bin (sun, rainbow, rain, clouds). But Lillian was more interested in playing her own way so I let her do her thing. A discrimination sort may be a fun invitation for older preschoolers. Emmett eventually joined in and helped Lillian scoop all the rice around.
Next, we made play dough storm clouds! Ahead of time, I prepared white home made play dough. Then I set out blue rhinestones, blue glass gems, and pipe cleaner “lightening bolts” in a loose parts tray.
Our finished products! Lillian had a grand time mixing all the materials into her storm cloud. Emmett created a big storm over an ocean. This was a little messy but they loved it!
The last story I want to showcase is The Big Umbrella, by Amy June Bates. This is a sweet story about a friendly umbrella who can stretch as wide as it needs to to help anyone who wants to stay dry. It’s a great way to initiate a conversation about inclusion, helping others, or kindness.
The Big Umbrella inspired the creation of these adorable umbrella cards. These cards are designed to help early readers distinguish between beginning sounds. You can choose which letters to focus on and use only the raindrops you need. I like to set out the umbrella cards to start and put the raindrops in a draw pile. Preschoolers can take turns choosing a raindrop and placing it under the correct umbrella. Encourage kiddos to work together to complete all the umbrellas.
I hope you enjoyed our Rainy Weather Activities! I add new ideas, FREEBIES and resources all the time. Be sure to follow me by clicking the social icons at the top of this page so you don’t miss out on any of my new creations.
If you’re interested in any of the resources in this post, you can click the icon below to find them.
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Mrs Mama Bird 