Painting with Rain
Paintings will change in the rain, and colors will mix together. Children can be imaginative with the design of their paintings, and enjoy the process of mixing colors. Learning to accept unpredictable outcomes and/or try again is a great lesson.
- Audience
- Caregiver
- Subject
- Nature & Outdoor
- Age
- InfantKindergartenPre-KPreschoolToddler
- Languages
- Brazilian PortugueseEnglishHaitian CreoleSimplified ChineseSpanishVietnamese
- Materials
- Liquid watercolor or food coloring (be mindful of staining), washable markers, paper, water, water dropper, spray bottles (optional)
Try painting with rain with your child!
Activity
- There are a few ways to paint with rain.
- Mix paint or food coloring with water. Use droppers to drip the paint onto paper.
- Use markers to draw on paper. Fill the paper with colors, shapes, lines, or pictures.
- Take the papers outside and place them on trays in the rain. Watch the colors swirl and spread. The longer the paper stays in the rain, the more the colors mix. You can stop when you like how it looks.
- Let your child make their own choices—how to paint, what colors to use, or how long to leave it in the rain. They can enjoy mixing colors and exploring the process instead of focusing on what it looks like at the end.
Try this with babies
- Babies can spread watered-down watercolor paint on paper with their hands or feet. Then you can bring the papers outside to watch the rain mix the colors.
Want more challenge?
- Make patterns with the watercolor paint, then see how the water changes them.
- Place small objects on the paper. See how the water moves around them and mixes colors differently.
- After the papers dry, you can cut them into shapes, make collages, or fold them into cards.
Ideas for different weather
- If the rain is too heavy, watch the papers from a window.
- If the rain is too light or there is no rain, use a spray bottle to wet the paper and mix the colors. You can even play rain sounds while painting to make it a fun experience using different senses.
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