Rainstorm Art Project (Rain, Rain, Go Away)

This week's theme for the Virtual Book Club for kids is nursery rhymes, and since we've had at least 4 days of super rainy weather, I decided to do a rain-themed art project to go with the nursery rhyme Rain, Rain, Go Away.

There are so many things I love about how this art project turned out:

1- The kids spent a lot of time experimenting with the paints (process art) and designing their own rainy day scenes.

2- We discussed the difference in abstract and realistic art.

3- We learned about a horizon line.

4- We discussed the science concepts behind ripples in water puddles and rivers.

5- We discussed rain storms. Seriously...I love talking about things like rainstorms with kids...they all have such great stories and information to share!

And EACH of the paintings was unique and wonderful! That might be my favorite part.

The entire lesson/activity took about an hour and a half--the older kids might have spent a little longer than that on their paintings. Here are the details:

1- Use a pan half full of water and a pipette to drop water drops into the pan and watch the ripples they make. Talk about ripples and what happens when they bump into each other. How long do they last? (They are waves made by water drops.)

2- Read Rain, Rain, Go Away. Sing the nursery rhyme. Or do both.  :)

Amazon Affiliate Link:

3- Show a rainstorm painting you either found or prepared in advance. I made this one:

Talk about how the ovals represent ripples and the white dashed lines represent the rain falling down. Discuss the difference in abstract and realistic paintings and how they both are expressions of an artist. Discuss what a rainstorm looks like. What colors is a rainstorm? If you have older kids, show them the horizon line (a line separating the sky and ground) and discuss how objects (like ripples in a puddle) look smaller nearer the horizon line. Discuss advantages and disadvantages to using them.

4- Explain that we're making rainstorm paintings today! Let your preschoolers (or older kids!) experiment with the paints and make their own rainstorms! 

Sidenote: We used acrylic paints for this project, and the kids really enjoyed painting colors on top of other colors!

And I LOVED hearing the details behind their paintings!! The one below, for example, has rain and lightning coming down from the clouds AND fire in the puddles from the "lightning rain!"

Since this week's Virtual Book Club for Kids theme is nursery rhymes, the hosts are all sharing different nursery rhymes and preschool-appropriate activities to go along with them! Check them out below!

5 Little Ducks - Mama Smiles

Rainstorm Art Project (Rain, Rain Go Away) - Preschool Powol Packets (You are here!)

Humpty Dumpty Egg Sensory Bin - My Storytime Corner
Hickory Dickory Dock Clock Play- Teach Beside Me
I'm A Little Teapot Pour Painting- Toddler Approved
Little Jack Horner Paper Plate Pie Craft
Five Little Ducks Counting and Story Retelling Activity - To Be A Kid Again 

Have you seen HEEP? It is a preschool homeschool curriculum! Learn more here!

Happy Educating,

Carla

I may share at any of these parties!

Never miss another post again!  Sign up for our weekly updates newsletter and get links to all our posts once a week in your inbox!  Sign up here!!