Submitted by Elaine Davis, Perkasie, Pennsylvania

Idea posted September 29, 2006

I use the following activity with my fourth graders during their unit on dynamics.

First, I have the students close their eyes for about thirty seconds and have them imagine that they are experiencing a rainstorm. Then, students open their eyes, and we share what the students imagined and the elements of a rainstorm (i.e., thunder, rain, wind, rustling leaves, etc.).

We then create our own rainstorm using instruments:
1. We begin the rainstorm at midnight with the lights in the room turned off. A student plays the triangle twelve times to indicate the stroke of midnight.
2. One student plays softly and sporadically the sounds of the raindrops on the tone block. Another students joins in, followed by another, slowly and softly.
3. The wind enters next, played on the bar chimes.
4. The leaves begin to rustle, played on the maracas.
5. As the rain intensifies, the rain stick, followed by the ocean drum, are introduced.
6. The thunderstorm begins with the thunder and lightning off in the distance. The thunder sounds are played on the conga drum and are played softly and sporadically.
7. A flicker of the light switches follows the sounds of the thunder.
8. All sounds gradually intensify until it is the height of the storm.
9. Next, it is time for the storm to slowly dissipate. The thunder and lightning sounds get softer and less frequent until they stop.
10. The other instruments then fade out one at a time until all that is left is the sound of a few distant raindrops being played on one tone block.
11. When the storm ends, it is 6:00 AM. The triangle is played six times. The lights are turned on, and the students, who have now pretended to fall asleep, wake up, and the rainstorm is now over.

During the rainstorm, I do not direct the timing or intensity of the instruments and their sounds. The students decide on their own when the next instrument will be introduced and how long they want each part of the rainstorm to last.

If there are not enough instruments for each student in the class, the students who do not have an instrument could do vocal sounds for the raindrops, wind, etc.

The students love doing this activity, and it is amazing how closely it resembles, feels, and sounds like a real thunderstorm!