Using Puppets with Preschoolers

Preschoolers may enjoy simply holding their cloud puppet and making it dance up and down. Preschoolers that are having trouble sitting down for circle time or singing time may enjoy taking turns standing in front of the other preschoolers and using their puppet to dance to the beat of the song.

Additional Rain Activities

Preschool Cloud Puppets

Puppets are a great addition to circle time activities and music time. Preschoolers are more interested in activities that they can play a hands on roll in. Preschoolers will enjoy making these easy cloud puppets that can be used in a weather theme or incorporated into the singing of any rain related song.

Preschool Book Review - The Rain Came Down

Everyone has experienced days where nothing seems to go right. In "The Rain Came Down", the rain seems to put everyone in a bad mood and cause all kinds of problems.

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Hi! I'm Rachel Lister, the Preschool Education writer at PreschoolRock.com. I live in Utah with my husband and two beautiful boys. When my oldest son was born, I quit my teaching job and opened a home daycare and preschool. I love to help preschoolers learn about the world around them. They make life interesting and I can't imagine doing anything different. If you have any ideas, suggestions or comments, feel free to contact me.

Helpful Tips for Parents

• Expose children to multiple languages early if possible. The preschool window is the most efficient period for language acquisition the brain will ever have.

• Avoid academic pressure before age 5. Preschool children's brains are not developmentally ready for formal academic instruction, and premature pressure backfires.

• Use mathematical language all day: "more than," "less than," "half," "equal," "twice as much." Incidental math vocabulary builds the conceptual foundation formal math builds on.

• Screen learning (educational apps and videos) supplements but never replaces human interaction as a teaching medium. Learning happens most efficiently in social, conversational contexts.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the role of technology in preschool education?

High-quality educational apps and programs (PBS Kids, Khan Academy Kids, Starfall) used in limited, adult-co-viewed sessions can supplement preschool learning. However, interactive human experiences (conversation, shared book reading, hands-on experimentation, social play) remain far superior as primary learning modes. Screen-based learning is most effective when it is: co-viewed with an adult, limited to 30–60 minutes per day, followed by extension activities in the real world (after a nature app, go outside), and consistently educational rather than commercial.

How do I support a gifted preschooler who seems to need more than peers?

Gifted preschoolers benefit from depth rather than acceleration — instead of teaching next-year's content, provide deeper engagement with current concepts. A preschooler fascinated by numbers doesn't need grade-school arithmetic; they benefit from mathematical puzzles, spatial reasoning challenges, and mathematical exploration at their own depth. Social-emotional support is equally important: gifted preschoolers often have asynchronous development (advanced intellectually but emotionally typical for their age) and need appropriate peer interaction alongside intellectual challenge.

Related reading: See also our vocabulary building guide and our counting activities for more ideas on this topic.

🎓 Skills Your Child Will Develop

• 📚 Pre-Reading Skills — Activities that involve letters, sounds, rhymes, and print directly build the phonological awareness and letter knowledge that are the two strongest predictors of successful reading development.
• 🧠 Memory & Recall — Remembering rules, retelling a story in sequence, and practicing skills to automaticity builds working memory and long-term recall — the cognitive foundation that learning in every subject depends on.
• ⚡ Executive Function — Planning, sequencing steps, holding rules in mind while acting, and stopping a prepotent response all build executive function — the cluster of cognitive skills most strongly predictive of long-term academic and life success.
• 🤔 Critical Thinking — Being asked "why do you think that?" and forming and defending an answer develops the analytical reasoning children need for reading comprehension, mathematics, and evidence-based argumentation.

Preschoolers love to be a part of the songs that they sing. Making a simple cloud puppet can help preschoolers to act out their favorite songs about the rain.

Songs About The Rain

It's Raining, It's Pouring

It's raining, it's pouring,

The old man is snoring,

He went to bed and bumped his head

And couldn't get up in the morning.

Rain, Rain, Go Away

Rain, rain, go away.

Come again some other day.

We want to go outside and play

Come again some other day

Rain on the Green Grass

Rain on the green grass,

and rain on the tree,

And rain on the housetop,

but not on me.

Questions to Ask Your Child

Use these open-ended prompts to extend the learning during or after the activity:

• "What was the most interesting thing you learned today?"
• "Can you explain this to a stuffed animal as if they've never heard of it?"
• "What part do you want to practice more?"
• "How is this connected to something you already know?"
• "What would you want to learn more about?"
• "If you were the teacher, what would you tell the class about this?"

There are no right or wrong answers to any of these questions. The goal is to keep the conversation going, model curious thinking, and give your child practice putting their experience into words.