Monday Fun! Rain Painting

Join us each Monday for a new feature, "Monday Fun," where we'll share some of our favorite recipes for creative, artistic, and scientific play.

It's raining, it's pouring, My kids think it's boring!

It's raining, and now that my kids have had a taste of playing in the warm summer sunshine, rainy days have been a little less bearable. Today we decided to make the most of the rain by
incorporating it into an activity that involves science and art.

Make your own rain paintings!

First, put a few drops of food coloring on a Chinet or other uncoated white paper plate. We used red, yellow, and blue drops so we could explore color mixing, too.


Dress up in rain gear and head outside! We were only out with our plate for about a minute. The kids were absolutely thrilled to be allowed outside in the rain. Here is what our plate looked like when we got back inside:


Here is the finished rain painting after about an hour of drying time:


You can also try drawing on the plate with a white crayon before adding food coloring, for a batik effect. We're saving that trick for next time!

Seasonal Confusion

Here is the upper Midwest, the weather can't decide what to do. Is it spring and in the mid-50's? Or is it snowing? It's day-to-day right now if we'll be toting an umbrella or sporting hats and gloves.

And...I've gotten it wrong once or twice already. This makes me one of those parents who actually sends her kids out in a light jacket with bees on it only to have it snow that afternoon. My teaching concentration area is general science. Want to guess which science course was the most difficult for me? Meteorology! Oh, well.

Here's a great outdoor activity for those really chilly not-so-spring days:

Blow bubbles!

If you take bubbles outside when it's below freezing, the soap film will freeze in mid-air, and they "shatter" when you pop them. Go out and try it!

Make sure that the temperature is below freezing. (Although who doesn't like playing with bubbles in any weather?) Kids of all sizes (and my husband) love this trick!

If you want to continue the learning indoors, there are some great picture books about bubbles. Here are a few you can look for:



Have fun!