What’s the weather, everyone? That was our theme for October: Weather! We sang an easy song titled “What’s the weather everyone?” to the tune of “Oh My Darlin’, Clementine:”
What’s the weather, what’s the weather,
what’s the weather, everyone?
Is it windy? Is it cloudy?
Is there rain or is there sun?
We used laminated pictures to hold up for each kind of weather or used our hands and arms to make motions that represented each form of weather.
Week 1:
We had some great kite-flying-weather at the beginning of October here in Dresden, so we started off with the book “Curious George: The Kite.” We made real 20-minute kites from Familyfun that we’ve made in years past because they’re so great and easy to make–and they really do fly! But for those who wanted a more low-key craft we also offered a simple cut and glue paper kite craft from DLTK, as well.
Week 2:
I couldn’t resist reading Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs for our weather theme. This crazy story of the town 
Chewandswallow, which has food weather instead of real weather, is a whimsical complement to our books on weather this month. To go along with it, we did a whimsical craft: A pinwheel. There are many pinwheel crafts out there on the internet, but you can start by looking at the directions provided by Enchantedlearning. Here are some differences that made our craft simpler: we used double-sided scrapbooking paper. That way you just need the one square of paper. Also, we found that the pushpin did not stay in, so we purchased some long, thin, necklace connectors at a craft store. They look like a blunt needle with a loop at one end. We put a bead on the necklace pin, then pushed the pin through the folded paper, then put on another bead for smoothness in the rotation and then stuck it through the eraser. Then we bent the pin to a right angle to keep it from coming back out of the eraser. If you can’t find this little necklace device, then I’m sure you can find something similar at a hobby store.
Week 3:
A famous children’s story from the bible, Noah’s Ark, offers lots of opportunity to discuss weather! 40 days and nights of pouring rain is quite something! The book that we used described thunder, lightening, rain and sunshine…not to mention the wonderful promise of the rainbow.
We sang a fun interactive song that we sing often in bible class here in the Gemeinde Christi called “Noah Built the Ark,” in which we each threw a toy animal of our choosing into a toy ark. You could also throw stuffed animals into any kind of container for this easy song.
As our Noah’s Ark craft, we made an ark by stapling a half-size paper plate to a full-sized one, insides facing, so there was a little space in between. The kids colored a rainbow on the upper half of the whole plate that was sticking up above with markers. Then they colored the lower half plate with brown for the ark. They cut out pre-printed animals and colored them to stick in the ‘ark.’ Don’t forget to put Noah in!
***A fun activity to go along with ‘rain’ was making “indoor rain.” Begin by having everyone tap their first two fingers against the palm of the other hand. Then have some switch to snapping, if they’re able. Then have everyone switch to patting their knees going faster and faster, then end up pounding on the floor (we have linoleum, but you could use a book in front of you if you have carpet). The result is a neat “rain” sensation!***
Week 4:
We’ve read Millions of Snowflakes in our playgroup before for a winter theme, but I had a fun and easy craft for snowflakes that I couldn’t wait to use, and snow is part of weather, too, right? 
What could be simpler? All you need is silver pipe cleaners, crystal-style beads and fishing line or clear string. Cut the pipe cleaners into lengths of 4-5 inches, depending on how big you want your snowflake. Take two pipe cleaners and twist one of them around the other right in the middle. Wrap others one at a time (using 4-6 pipe cleaners) around the others in the middle as tight as you can. You really only need to wrap them around 1 1/2 times. The result should be 4-6 pipe cleaners joined in the middle with ends sticking out every which way. Now just slide 4-5 beads on each pipe cleaner end that is stick out, with spaces between the beads, so you can see the silver in between each one. Stick one end of a length of clear string through the middle of the snowflake and tie with a loop as you like, to hang on a doorknob, from a garland or Christmas tree. Here is another, slightly different way of doing it at Family fun.
** November’s Theme: “Fun in the Fall!” Come play with us!**
(Parents, bring along some outdoor fall leaves with you this month to playgroup for some fun activities during circle time!)
English Play Group 