Watching the Rain Fall
A rainy day, a window, and water tracing paths as it runs down.
Watching the Rain Fall is a Montessori activity for a child aged 18 to 24 months. Area: Science and Nature. Time: 5-10 min.
What the activity builds
Observe a nature event from start to finish, and start building the first words for weather.
The materials
- A rainy day
- A window at their height, or a sturdy step stool
- Optionally, a cup set outside before the rain starts
How to do it, step by step
- Set your child by the window, at eye level.
- Watch with them, quietly, for a good while.
- Follow a single drop down the glass with your finger, from top to bottom.
- Let them try to follow their own, often with their whole palm at first.
- Name it once: "rain."
- If you set a cup outside, go get it together afterward, and look at the water that collected in it.
The parent's role
Show once, then step back. There's nothing to do here, and that's exactly what makes it hard for an adult. Watching the same thing for a long time is real work at this age. The full cup is the control of error for the day: it shows, without a word, that rain really does fill things up.
Safety
A step stool by a window calls for an adult's hand at all times. Don't open the window for this activity, the glass is enough. If you go outside for the cup, go together, and dry off right away when you come back in.
You remain the sole judge of what is right for your child. These activities are offered for educational and recreational purposes: they do not replace medical advice or the guidance of an early childhood professional.
Ways to adapt the activity
- Easier: ten seconds of watching, no more, and come back to it later.
- Harder: step under an overhang, reach a hand out, feel the drops.
- Extension: the next day, look at puddles together, then watch them disappear in the sun.
Up next
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