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 ...  Read the complete review

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 ...  Read the complete review

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 ...  Read the complete review

When my son received this for Christmas last year he was only 4 weeks old and I thought to myself what does this Rainmaker do? Well it obviously went in his toy box till he was a little older. The age the early learning state for this is 3 months plus, so I got it out when he was around 3 months old and to my amazement he loved it. He would sit a watch me turning it upside down over and over again. It is basically a plastic tube with 3 sections and lots of tiny colourful beads inside, when you turn it upside down you watch and listen to all of the beads falling through each level. In fact one day when he was very unsettled he was ...  Read the complete review

I wouldnt review this as a bad toy but it is definately one of the more traditional ones. My girls have had this a long while and was bought from ELC for around £10 it could have been a little less. The tag states the age reange is from 3 months plus but theres no risk of choking etc as long as you keep a close eye on baby although it is quite a heavy toy. This rainmaker has different sections seperated by coloured disks and is then filled with lots of coloured balls. Whne you tip it one way the balls all fall down to the bottom making what is supposed to be the soothing effect of rain however i dont think it sounds like this and is much louder. My ...  Read the complete review