Finding Toys in Nature

Not Just Another Rainy Day

Today we played with rain. It started with splashing in puddles and turned into an art project that went better than I thought it would.

It started the way it always does—just splashing in puddles. No plan. No setup. Just kids and water and that moment where you almost stop them… and then don’t.

One puddle turned into another. Shoes got soaked. Like, totally soaked. I actually felt kind of bad when their parents came. Next time I will take shoes off and put their crocs on.

The puddles turned into paint.

The driveway turned into a canvas.

And what started as “just playing in the rain” turned into an art project I never planned.

We took a pan and put paper in it, then squeezed some paint onto the paper. I chose 3 colors that would blend well together. Red, blue and purple. We sat the pan out in the rain and watched the magic happen. The rain painted the picture. Patterns started emerging that I did not expect. It really was so cool.

Then the kids brought in the bubble machine and that gave even more patterns.

They started painting everything outside, which always happens when I get out the washable paint. then they would watch the rain wash it away.

At one point my granddaughter tried to paint the bubbles but quickly learned that that was not possible. So. Science!

The painting didn’t last. It got mushy and fell apart. But I know the memories are building, the lessons are being learned, and the spark to create is getting stronger. I call that successful.