We have blazing sunshine here today, and we’re waiting for a rain storm to come break the heat. In the meantime, Travis and I are making our own rain at home!

He loved the gross motor play to fit our theme – making a downpour with various kitchen colanders and sieves. The kitchen sink was a bit high for him, even on his stepstool…

So I moved things to the kitchen floor. Spread a towel underneath, and you won’t need to worry about “puddles”!

Travis loved scooping and pouring, as well as seeing the way water ran through the holes of the colander.

When he tired of that, he asked if he could get in the basin of water we were using. I rolled up his pants and had him pretend it was a real puddle, and he had a blast stomping and making bubbles and waves with his feet.

Even better, if you’re doing these activities on a real rainy day, put on some rubber boots and head outdoors to stomp!

For fine motor skills, we made a raincloud. Trace a rough outline of a cloud on blue construction paper, and have your child cover the area with glue before pressing down cotton balls. Don’t worry if the cotton ends up outside the lines, of course!

Travis loved this part, so much so that he needed to make a second cloud while our first was drying.

I was surprised he wasn’t more into the idea for raindrops – little teardrop shapes cut from shiny foil. So after he dabbed on more glue, I arranged the “rain” myself.

Round out your themed day with other rain toys you can think of – shake rain sticks, do a rain dance, or bring out bath toys and have a “storm” at bathtime.

A great nursery rhyme to recite is Doctor Foster:

Doctor Foster went to Gloucester

In a shower of rain.

He stepped in a puddle

Right up to his middle

And never went there again.

We also sang our favorite rainy day songs (Rain Rain Go Away; I Hear Thunder), and ended the day with a book about rain (Soggy Saturday).

And how perfect: by bedtime we were rewarded with this: