Sweet little video of children playing in the rain makes a viral splash

Thirty four seconds.

That’s how long it has taken millions of people this week to become young again.

On Wednesday a preschool day care in New Zealand posted the sweetest little video of children there playing in the rain.

There was mud, too.

“Spontaneous fun erupted this afternoon as the heavy (yet warm) rains come down in buckets. The efficient chain gang of teachers had a shower,warm fluffy towels and dry clothes at the ready!” Pukekos Educare posted to its Facebook page.

The world clapped its hands in glee as it watched.

“This is such a joyous scene,” wrote one woman. “All kids should get the chance to play in puddles and mud! I know I enjoyed mud play when I was little because I can still remember the taste of it and the feel of it. Sensory experiences that stay with you for life. ( I am now in my 50s).”

Another commenter wrote: “I think this is a beautiful display of childhood. I turned up the volume so that I could hear the squeals and the laughter. Kudos educators. In today’s society it is easy to just hand a child an electronic when bad weather approaches. This. This right here. This is how you teach.”

The response was so strong — more than 30 million views alone of the original post — that the day care commented on the comments Thursday.

“Just sad this seems to be the exception and not the ‘rule’ anymore,” it wrote. “By the millions of (views) we shared I’m thinking how many adults have forgotten their childhoods? And why wouldn’t they want this for their own children? Feel like Tinkerbell in Peter Pan losing our magic with non believers!

“And then yesterday it awoke some of the adults in remembering what it was to have this type of childhood and some of the magic came back!”

We believe. We believe.

This story was originally published April 14, 2017 at 1:06 PM with the headline "Sweet little video of children playing in the rain makes a viral splash."