Rain Rondos

Submitted by Stephanie Carey and Gretchen, Portsmouth, Ohio and Missouri

Idea posted April 13, 2004

Rain Rondo 1 from Stephanie Carey in Portsmouth, Ohio - Have the kids stand in a circle. Tell them that they have to pay careful attention to what you're doing. You stand in the middle, turning your body and looking at each child individually. When you look at a child, they should mirror your actions. Your actions will take this form:

You need to tell the kids up front that they should not talk and that there is no giggling. It's really cool if they can pull it off!

Rain Rondo 2 from Gretchen in Missouri- My fifth-grade teachers did this once with our entire class (about 60 kids). I'm not sure if this would work with a smaller group.

You sit in a big circle. Start with the "start" person, and go around the circle. Start by rubbing hands together to make a swishing sound. That sound goes around gradually, each person adding on until the sound is all the way around the circle. Once it gets back to the "start" person, s/he starts snapping in eighth notes or just randomly, but quickly like it's sprinkling. Then, when it gets back around again, the "start" person pats softly on her/his lap. That sound goes around the circle, and then around again but louder patting, and then around again but reverses back to quiet patting, then snapping, then put your hands in your lap, and it fades out.