Northern Australia has a monsoon season (also known as the wet season) in the summer months, bringing dark clouds, thunderstorms, and heavy and persistent rainfall. While endless rain isn't necessarily pleasant and flooding can occur, Australian monsoons can provide relief from extreme heat and drought.
Monsoons occur in other regions too, including India, China and Southeast Asia.
Children who live in tropic regions will be familiar with monsoons. Their early childhood education services can incorporate weather and seasons into their programs.
The Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF) encourages children to show respect for nature (2.4).
Learning experiences
Write stories and poems
The wet season can bring damage, relief, change and beauty. Find out what it means to each of your children by asking them to write stories.
Steve Richards from World Vision has helped children in India express their everyday lives through storytelling, including three eight-year-olds (Puja, Neha & Anjalie) who wrote about monsoons:
“In monsoon there is a lot of rain. Lightning flashes in the sky. Tit tat tit tat tit tat the rain falls. The cold days have come. In monsoon I feel cold. Water floods. In the monsoon my house leaks. In monsoons we put plastics over our roof. Outside water gathers. Once water gathers we have to make the drains and then the drains get full.”
Early childhood educators can encourage children to express their own experiences with monsoons or what they imagine a monsoon to be like. Ask children to tell verbal stories and write their thoughts down for them. Read their stories back to them.
Alternatively, encourage children to write poems about monsoons by following this formula:
- What is something you like about the rain?
- What is something you can't do in the wet season?
- What does the rain sound like?
- What does the rain feel like?
Observe the weather
Encourage children to observe and document changes in the weather during the wet season, like rainfall patterns, cloud formations, and temperature fluctuations. Teach children how to record and visualise data.
Be inspired by artists
View these artworks about monsoons and use them as inspiration for your own rainy-day artworks:
Events
29th June is International Day of the Tropics
Resources
Picture books
- Big Fella Rain by Beryl Webber
- Mina vs. the Monsoon by Rukhsanna Guidro
- Monsoon by Uma Krishnaswami
Websites
- National Geographic: Monsoons
- Bureau of Meteorology: What is a monsoon?