Monsoon Activities for Children: Crafting with Nature

With the arrival of the monsoons, the whole country is enveloped in a symphony of sights, sounds and sensations. The sky changes from deep blue to a soft haze, often draped with dark, swirling clouds. The breeze carries the sweet scents of blooming flowers and the earthy aroma of wet soil. Raindrops patter gently on windowpanes, rainbows stretch across the sky, and rain puddles beckon exploration. The monsoon season is indeed a magical time of the year, instilling a sense of wonder and awe especially in our little ones. As we embrace nature’s bounty to mankind during this magical time, let us explore various interesting monsoon activities which will keep our preschoolers engaged and help them to explore new possibilities, and learn new things in a creative way. 

It’s Time for Fun Monsoon Activities

Art and craft is one of the best ways to keep a child busy and happy. It is also a way to spark early creativity in children. Set up a monsoon activities corner at home, stocked with coloured paper, paint, crayons and markers. You can keep a separate mat for them to sit on, so that the whole area is not messed up. Let them create their own monsoon-inspired masterpieces.  

1. Help children fold paper into boats. Float them in a tub of water and observe how they move. Experiment with adding weight (like small toys) to see how it affects buoyancy. 
2. Encourage them to draw colourful umbrellas, raindrops and clouds and decorate them with sequins, leaves, flowers and twigs to create patterns and textures.  
3. Allow them to dip their fingers into pots of washable paint and colour their drawings. See the joy on their faces as their colourful drawings are pinned up on a wooden or cardboard frame.  
4.  Let the kids create a collage to depict rainy scenes on a chart paper. Ask them to shape rainbows, clouds and rain-drenched skies with play dough. Help them to cut out arches in the form of rainbows and use blue and white cotton balls to make clouds. They can stick their own photographs on it too. 
5.  You can give them an old umbrella to decorate with paints, glitter and cut out pictures from glossy magazines.  
6.  Fill up glass bottles with soap, soda and shaving foam. Put a few drops of food dye, so that the brilliant swirl of colours when they shake up the bottle will seem like sunlight reflected on little waterfalls.  
7.  Put together a lucky dip box by filled with sand, small toys and other objects all wrapped up in the colours of the monsoons. Watch the excitement on their faces as they take turns to fish out their own gifts. 
8.  Construct a sandbox and keep pails of water, spades and shovels for the little ones to make sandcastles and mudpies and pretend it is a day on the beach.  

Enjoy The Rhythm of Rain

The sound of raindrops is so soothing and musical for a child. When it starts raining, a music session could be a fun monsoon activity. Our little ones can dance with abandon or march and move to the rhythm of the rain. Let them hold streamers, ribbons, scarves and parasols decorated with shells and beads for an added level of creativity. 

Rainy Day Stories in Motion 

Gather the children around for a fun-filled story-time session and read books about the monsoons, rainbows and clouds. Tell them real-life episodes about the rain from your childhood and show them photos from your album. Encourage them to tell make-believe stories about the rainy season to increase their vocabulary and imagination. 

Magic Monsoon Activities in the Kitchen

The monsoon is also the right time to indulge in some delicious comfort food. Engage preschoolers in simple cooking activities like making hot chocolate or sandwiches. You can recreate the monsoon magic by putting up a rainy-day snack bar with fun treats, like rainbow coloured fruit skewers and cloud cookies frosted with white icing and sprinkles. The children can help you measure out the ingredients, mix and decorate. Prepare freshly squeezed juices from seasonal fruits that are available during the monsoon. Serve them with colourful straws for the kids to sip on. Steam mini idlis to resemble fluffy clouds, perfect for dipping into sambar, which can be imagined as muddy puddles.  

Have a rainy-day picnic on the living room floor. Spread a mat and arrange utensils and napkins. Open a wicker hamper and let the children enjoy chips, mini samosas, and pakoras perfect for monsoon weather.

Learn with Rainy Fun

Who say’s you can’t learn without having fun. For an older preschooler, monsoon season is an opportunity to learn about concepts like evaporation. condensation and precipitation. Set up a simple monsoon activities which are small experiments for their basics.

• The Evaporation Experiment

Place a mug of water in the sun and mark the changes in the water level and observe daily changes as the water evaporates due to heat from the sun.

• Floating and Diving Toys

Provide the children with plastic toys that are designed to sink and others that are designed to float. Ask them to sort the toys into two groups: those that sink and those that float. Encourage them to explore why some toys float on the water’s surface while others sink to the bottom. This way, an older child will learn about buoyancy and absorption. 

• Cloud in a Jar

Fill the jar halfway with hot water. Spray a quick burst of hairspray into the jar. Quickly close the jar and put ice cubes on top of the lid. Watch as a cloud forms inside the jar due to condensation.

• Bubble Adventures

When the sun peeps out, let them blow soap bubbles reflecting the colours of the rainbow. Let them identify the colours. Children can also learn the early concepts of surface tension while playing with bubbles. Create a bubble solution in a shallow container using water and a few drops of dish soap. Let Place different objects such as plastic rings, pipe cleaners, and straws on the surface of the bubble solution. Let them explore how these objects behave when placed on the surface of the bubble solution.

Dress Up and Play

All little ones love to dress up and play roles. Set up a skit corner. Provide umbrellas, raincoats and hats and let the kids act out plays, taking turns being the umbrella holder, puddle jumper or a drenched flower.  

A trip to Rainland

One of the most loved monsoon activities is to take a walk in the park. When the rain subsides, take your toddler on a nature walk to explore the monsoon’s impact on the environment. Let them look all around draw their attention to the kaleidoscope of hues that paints the landscape in monsoon shades of brown, green and gold. The lawns in our garden turn a luscious green and raindrops sparkle like diamonds on the pretty flowers, making us feel as if we have just stepped in a fairyland.  

Sky Through the Window

Have you ever wondered of the positive effects of nature on your little one? According to a study, spending time in nature comes with various health benefits and overall wellbeing of a child. This monsoon let them watch the changing moods of the sky and the rain from the safe confines of the bedroom window.  Let them notice the beautiful grey sky and the cool breeze just before it starts to rain.

A light drizzle starts, and then heavy rain pours down like liquid silver. Thunder rumbles and lightning flashes across the sky. After a while, the rain reduces to a gentle pitter-patter on the roof, like a soothing lullaby that comforts our little ones. Let your little one laugh and giggle and shout with glee. Let them twirl, spin and welcome the rains with open arms.

The monsoons are a celebration of life and the eternal beauty of renewal and rejuvenation. As the rain washes away the dust and grime of everyday life and the skies are swept clean, they bring with them a sense of hope and endless possibilities – a promise that every storm will pass, and the sun will emerge and shine brightly upon the world once again. So, let us encourage our little ones to embrace the monsoons, develop a deep appreciation for nature’s beauty and celebrate the world around them.