Decide on a Thunder Master (optional)

During the rainstorm activity, you may want a way to make thunder. It’s fun to add the rumble and crash of thunder and is another visible demonstration of vibration creating sound. Watch this video to see how to use the optional items to make thunder.

If you decide to add thunder to your rainstorm, decide who will be the Thunder Master, the maker of thunder. We suggest you let this person experiment before class so that they can create a great thunder sound for your rainstorm.

We recommend a simple sound experiment from San Francisco's Exploratorium that lets your students experiment with sound—without making a lot of noise. Follow the instructions here. Encourage students to experiment to figure out how to change the sound. They can make it higher by pulling the string tighter and lower by loosening the string. Each student will need a piece of string or yarn that’s at least 3 feet (1 meter) long. Students can work on their own, but we suggest students work in pairs so they can discuss their ideas with one another.

Make sure you have enough space. Pairs of students will need to be at least 5 or 6 feet apart, and have a clear line of sight to each other. Homeschool students working alone will need a partner to do this activity.

You will need to do this activity in the dark with the lights off and curtains drawn.

Classroom Management Tip

Flashlights are very fun, but can be very distracting! We suggest waiting to distribute flashlights to students until Step 6 of the activity.

We recommend two activities (Red Light/Green Light and Sound Card Challenge) that let students explore their own skills of watching and listening and practice some of the sound words they hear every day.