Painting Raindrops

I'm using

• non-toxic, washable project paint
• a brush from a children's watercolor paint set
• a scrap of blue construction paper.

Materials

Today we are getting the feel of painting raindrops. What seems at first an easy shape to paint can quickly become distorted.

So I start with a long thin triangle using downward strokes and one right to left.

Triangle

Next I round out the bottom corners. Here I started at the left middle of the triangle, and painted one downward stroke out around the corner and then in toward the center.

 I did the same on the right.

After that I rounded out the bottom just a bit.

Bottom Corners Rounded Out

Last, I fill in the raindrop with paint starting at the top using downward strokes working from the outer edge to the center.

Finished Raindrop

Now practice as much as you'd like and experiment with painting different sizes of raindrops.

Practicing a Variety of Sizes

Update: April 14, 2015
Here's a rainbow over crayon raindrops. Draw the triangle with a crayon, round out the bottom corners while coloring in the triangle making it into a raindrop,
Crayon Raindrops through a Watercolor Rainbow

Leaf prints

If you can find some leaves that aren't too dry, these leaf prints might be fun. The trick is to not get too much paint on the back, so the veins of the leaf turn out well.

The first picture shows how I put red, yellow, and white non-toxic poster paints on paper, and spread them across the paper. Then I put the back of the leaf against the wet paint and onto the paper for the print.

My second method was to lightly coat the back of the leaf with the same paints using napkins to put the leaf on and to wipe my brush clean on. Then put the leaf on paper, and gently smooth across it.

I like the second method the best.

If your kids are getting some good leaf prints, they could put them on paper the size of a place mat. When the prints are dry, the paper could be covered with clear contact paper to protect it and use it for a Thanksgiving place mat.

The leaf prints look pretty on windows too.