Music Lessons for Every Age Using Rain Songs

From preschool all the way to middle school, I'm pretty sure everyone can find a new song to use in your music classroom in today's post! I've compiled all of the lesson ideas I've shared using songs about rain from Germany, Morocco, South Africa, Ukraine, Colombia, and Japan and organized them by the target age group and the skills and concepts I use these songs to teach. They are all wonderful songs and kid-approved lessons that have been a hit in my classroom!

I went on a bit of a spree finding songs from around the world about rain, and there are so many different musical concepts and skills that can be taught with these different songs! Next time you have a rainy season, or you want to try something new to teach one of these concepts, try one of these out- click on the posts for detailed explanations of the lesson plans, song recordings, and more. You'll notice I've listed the same song twice in some cases because they can be used for a wide variety of concepts with different ages- here they are listed from the lessons I use with the youngest grades to the oldest.

PreK and self-contained: fingerplay and movement

Kindergarten / 1st grade: steady beat, timbre

Kindergarten / 1st grade: steady beat, quarter and eighth notes

Lower elementary: A and B contrasting sections

Lower / middle elementary: do, re, mi

Middle grades: compound meter, pentatonic solfege

Middle grades: canon singing, Orff accompaniments

Upper elementary: major and minor tonalities

Upper elementary / middle school: genres, meter, and form

To be honest I found even more songs about rain from all different places around the world, but I felt like I needed to stop at some point! I've found picking a common childhood song topic is a great way to learn new songs in different languages from different cultures that I may not have incorporated into my elementary music lessons before, and that has been very exciting. If you know of others that you've used in your music classes please share them below! I'd love to keep adding to this list in the future!