ELC Rainmaker

My son Michael has various special needs and I'm always on the look-out for toys that will not only be fun for him to play with, but will also help him develop new skills. One of the toys that seemed to really interest him at the Child Development Centre was a rainmaker, so we had a look around the shops and found a rainmaker in the ELC. ~~~So what's a rainmaker?~~~ A rainmaker is basically a clear perspex tube topped and tailed with colourful end caps,with ledges on the inside and then filled with tiny beads. When held or rolled the beads move in the tube and produce a delightful noise that sounds a little like rain. All the beads are very ...

So, what's a Rainmaker I hear you ask. Remember at infant school you'd make your own instruments now and again, one instrument always being a kitchen roll tube filled with lentils and blocked at both ends? An ELC Rainmaker is a posher, prettier version. You've basically got a longish transparent plastic tube filled with multi-coloured plastic beads which, when shaken or rolled around, will make a 'whoooshing' noise similar to the sound of rainfall. The beads are actually much brighter than in the photograph above, almost florescent, and the colour hasn't faded at all in the years we've had this toy - and believe me this has been dumped in the bath, left out ...

As a childminder and a mother of 4, I feel that I have tried and tested this item to the maximum. We received it as a gift and after unwrapping it we were initially stumped. What does it do we thought? The answer came from the giver, or her daughter, to be precise. You can hold it up, tip it up and then tip it upside down. The beads cascade down either quickly or slowly depending on the angle you hold the tube. The noises it makes depends on the angle held too. The colour effect is pretty and you can use this to discuss the names of the colours, use language such as fast and slow, up and down, shake etc. You can talk about closing your eyes, imagine ...