Book Club Monday : What Makes It Rain?

I am so excited to start a weekly Usborne Books & More Book Club!  Today's book is What Makes It Rain.  It's a wonderful book about the weather that is perfect for inquisitive preschoolers!

My son loves the flaps and it literally answers so many of their endless questions which is great!  If you are a mom of a kid who can talk, you know what I'm talking about.  What, Why, When, How, Where.  It is NEVER ending. Don't get me wrong, I love that kids are so interested in learning and most of the time I am excited to answer but when it's 5 am and you haven't had breakfast... just stop.  Am I right?

Anyways! Let's talk about the book.

  

Here are FOUR great activities you can do that explore the concepts in the book. 

TOP LEFT: The first one is a snowy tree farm sensory bin.  We used fake snow in a can but you could use flour, real snow, or even playdough.  Then we talked about snow, read the page about snow from the book and let our imaginations run wild.

TOP RIGHT: The second activity is a rain sound sensory bin. I gathered up a bin, some jars, a raining bath toy, and a funnel. We got to work pouring and talking about the sound that rain makes.  We also talked about how rain feels, and read the rain page from the book.

BOTTOM LEFT: The third activity is a bit messy but so much fun!  We made clouds with shaving cream and a paint brush.  I added blue food coloring and then we made prints by smooshing a piece of paper on top and letting it dry.  The end result is cloud art that smells like clean shaving cream!  ;) You can add snowflakes, rain drops, a rainbow - whatever your child is interested in learning more about after the shaving cream dries.  We added snowflake stickers.

BOTTOM RIGHT: The last activity is a science lesson.  We read the rain page in the book and talked about clouds and precipitation.  Then I put a little bit of shaving cream on top of water and added drops of blue food coloring.  Don't put too much shaving cream or it will take FOREVER.  As the "clouds" become heavy with water droplets, they begin to "rain". This was really interesting and fun to explore and discuss.

What other weather activities can you think of to go with the book?  I would love to see!  Enjoy the activities and the questions and conversations that follow.  

To purchase the book, click here.

To follow along on instagram and see more great books find me @buildingliteracywithbooks