Learning and Development: Rhymes for birth to threes - I hear thunder

I hear thunder

Hark! don't you?

Hark! don't you?

Pitter-patter raindrops

Pitter-patter raindrops

I'm soaked through

So are you!

Some children are afraid of loud noises, and thunder in particular, so this rhyme offers a great opportunity to explore that fear and find ways to deal with it. In fact, chanting the rhyme, very loudly, on wet and potentially stormy days can even make thunder 'fun' rather than scary.

Rhyme time

Introduce the rhyme to the children and encourage them to observe the actions that accompany the words and try them out themselves:

- Start with one hand cupped around one ear 'listening', and then change hands and ears as the words change to 'Hark! Don't you?'

- As the rains begins, wiggle your fingers on both hands and move them from high in the air to the floor

- At 'I'm soaked through', point your index finger to yourself and at 'So are you!', point to the children.

Chant the rhyme again, with the children joining in all the actions. As they become more familiar with the rhyme, try varying the speed - getting faster and faster - or vary the volume by whispering or chanting very loudly.

Extension idea

Use the rhyme as a starting point for an exploration of sounds:

- Try listening to real rain battering a tin tray or metal dustbin lid, and the noise a rainstick makes.

- Then try to replicate the sound with shakers and other percussion instruments.

- Make rain sticks with empty snack tins full of rice, sand, dry beans, peas and pulses.

- When there is a storm, bring out the shakers and encourage all the children to join in loudly with the rhyme.