Fun with Character: Make It Rain
Stand in front of the seated classroom. Announce that you are going to make it rain in the classroom. No one must speaks during this activity to get the full effect of the rainstorm. Stand at one side of the classroom. Explain that they are to copy your action when you stand in front of their row, area, table, etc. (It isn’t necessary to walk around the room, just pace back and forth in front.) Start by rubbing your hands together. Walk from one side of the room to the other until everyone is rubbing their hands together. Everyone should continue to rub their hands until you give them the next action. Go back to where you started and begin snapping your fingers. On your next pass, begin making a loud pattering sound by slapping your thighs. Optional: the height of the rainstorm is stomping feet. If this would be too much to control or too loud for your environment, you may want to skip this step. Now it is time for the storm to subside. If you added the stomping feet, go back to the slapping thighs the same way you started each action. Then take everyone back to snapping fingers and then rubbing hands. Now it is time for the storm to end. Make the signal to be quiet as you walk across the room, and slowly stop the hands from rubbing.
To process this activity, ask these or similar questions:
Did you think we could make it rain?
Did it sound like rain?
How would this storm have sounded if everyone had the same kind of snap?
How would this storm have sounded if there were only 5 of us?
Does this teach you anything about excluding classmates from your play?
The variations within each of us are what give this storm its depth. It needs a large group for the sounds to mix properly. A select few could not have made the storm alone.