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Here in the
Pacific Northwest (western Washington and Oregon) we can have rain
anytime of the year. I received an e-mail from a librarian last
month which prompted this song. It read:
“I am one
of your most dedicated fans. I use you music regularly in my
weekly Story Time and Music Time programs. You seem to have a
song for almost any theme, your songs are catchy and easy to
learn and sing, and you never stop coming up with new ones!
I've been doing Story Times for over 20 years, and I've often
done a winter, spring, summer, or fall story time, but for the
first time I'll be doing a "four seasons" story time in
January 2013. Since my library is on the rainy Oregon coast, I
wanted a book to read that dealt with a RAINY winter day
rather than a SNOWY winter day, or maybe a rainy CLIMATE book
(no hot summers, no crisp falls, snow as an amazing
occurrence, rain all four seasons). So far I have found no
books. None in my library system. None in the vast Portland
system. None searching online. Zero rainy winter books so far.
Zero rainy climate books. How is it that you don't have any
rainy songs? Seattle is in the world's largest temperate
rain forest, just like my town, and famous (notorious?) for
its rain.
Snow is fun and the idea of it makes my little Oregon
ducklings very happy, but I would love to acknowledge the life
they actually live with a good book or song about the climate
they know and don't mind at all.
Maybe someday you'll write a rainy song for all of us living
in or near this lovely but soggy temperate rain forest?
- Keeping my fingers crossed,
Sara” |
Well Sara,
you can un-cross your fingers, because I’ve taken your request to
heart! Here is your year-round rainy day song. It can be done as a
circle dance, as you will see from the instructions. Have fun, and
keep dry!
Rain, Rain, Won't Go Away
Wintertime is here, maybe this year we’ll have snow
We’ll put our hats and mittens on,
(pretend to put on hat, hold up mitten hands)
Make a snowball we can throw
(claps hands together for snowball and pretend to
throw)
CHORUS: (walk around in a circle, stopping for the verses)
Oh, no, it’s raining, it’s pouring, the old man is
snoring
Rain, rain, go away, come again another day
Spring is nearly here, little flowers start to grow
(bring fingers of one hand up through other loose
fist for “grow”)
Let’s get the garden started,
Bring the shovel, bring the hoe
(pretend to dig) (CHORUS)
Summer’s finally here, you can almost feel the sun
(circle arms above head for
sun)
Let’s go outside and climb a tree
And play ‘til the day is done
(pretend to climb) (CHORUS)
Now the fall has chilled the air,
(hug self and rub arms indicating chill)
All the leaves are falling down
(flutter fingers down)
Let’s make a great big pile of them
(pretend to gather leaves with arms)
And jump and twirl around
(jump and twirl!) (CHORUS)
Let’s put on our raincoats, let’s put our rain boots
on too
(pretend motions)
Let’s open a big umbrella,
It’s the only thing to do
(hold arms overhead , fingers touching for umbrella)
Because …
It’s raining, it’s pouring, the old man is snoring,
Rain, rain won’t go away,
So we’ll just have to go outside anyway… and play
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January
2013 Song of the Month