Rain, Rain Go Away
Lyrics
Rain, rain, go away,
Come again another day,
Little Johnny wants to play,
Rain, rain, go away
classic song, “Rain, Rain, Go Away” to create fun opportunities to learn about the emotion of
“anger” and the concept of “rain” with your young children.
The lyrics, “Rain, rain, go away!” are definitely most fun when sung with an index finger directed
to the sky and a (pretend) angry expression on your face. WIth your 1-2 year old children, sing
the words and display a comically frustrated face for them to study and giggle at. Encourage
your pre-school aged children to sing the words with you and express their own exasperation at
the crummy weather. This simulated “angry” situation is a great opportunity for children to learn
to identify the human facial expressions that represent anger and perhaps even have a
discussion about what things make them angry as well. Children who can correctly identify
others’ and their own feelings have better interpersonal skills and self-control. If they can say
that they’re angry, there’s no reason to express it in the form of hitting or yelling.
But really, why even be angry about rain? Rain can be just the thing needed for an extra-fun
afternoon outside. If it’s raining, pull out the galoshes and umbrellas and head outside. Sing the
lyrcis to this song while you splash in puddles, study the rivulets in the street, or even sniff
ordinary objects to see how trees, grass, or pavement smell when wet. As always, combine all
of these activities with lots of conversation and great vocab – in slow, short, and complete
sentences, tell your baby, “You’re touching mud! Is it squishy?”, or ask your preschooler to tell
you what the rain sounds like, and then be sure to add a couple extra new words, “Yes, it is loud
– but under our umbrella the sound is muffled ”. Repetition is key to learning new words or ideas,
but luckily, music gets stuck in your head, so if kids have a fun rain experience and have a song
about rain to accompany their memories of it, the learning they did that day will stick.
Or better yet, don’t limit yourself to waiting for a rainy day to have some watery fun! Why not
incorporate these same fun ideas into bath time? Create your own rain by turning on the
showerhead or slowly tipping a small bath bucket over your child’s head. In fact, bathtime rainy
play is fun because when we tell the rain to “Go away!”, the rain (showerhead or bucket) can
quickly obey and also “Come again another day”, and turn back on.
“Rain, Rain, Go Away” is the perfect tool for having tactile fun while learning rainy-day
vocabulary as well as working on the concept of being angry in a silly, positive environment. Get
those rain jackets ready, because at the next drizzly forecast, you’re going to be ready for a
laughter and splash-filled afternoon!
