Rain Splatter Painting: A Fun Process Art Activity for Toddlers and Preschoolers

Rain Splatter Painting

I wanted to offer a process art activity for our rain theme this week that would mimic the phenomenon of real raindrops falling from the sky. I also wanted something that could be done with materials that we already had available in the house. We had bought medium toothbrushes by accident a few months back and I had been itching to find a use for them. By the time we were finished with the activity, the paper was absolutely covered with tiny little (and some not-so-little) blue raindrops. This would be a fun activity for toddlers and preschoolers. This splatter painting is a little messy, so we decided to do it outside.

What you will need to complete this activity:

• paper
• washable nontoxic paint (blue is a nice choice)
• glitter or glitter glue (optional)
• water
• small paper or plastic cup to hold the paint
• toothbrush
• Popsicle stick
• drop cloth (this is necessary if you are doing the project indoors, optional for outdoors)

Making the Painting with Your Child:

To start, you'll need to thin the paint a bit. First we tried a half water, half paint mixture. That was too thin. Instead of sticking to the toothbrush, it just ran off immediately. Eventually, we reached a 2/3 paint, 1/3 water ratio. I found that was thick enough to stick to the toothbrush, but thin enough to fly off in tiny droplets rather than big globules (Yay!). Little M. requested that I add some glitter glue into the mixture, so we did.

To make the paint splatter, simply dip the toothbrush into the paint mixture until it is well coated. Hold the toothbrush bristle side up and scrape the bristles from front to back with the Popsicle stick.

This activity could be adapted in a few different ways. We noticed that the rocks we used to weight the paper down (it was a bit windy outside) left big white marks on the paper. You could use masking tape to section of bits of the paper to create some sort of design, or you could provide a variety of cardboard shapes (a raindrop, perhaps?) to protect an area of the paper, leaving the “white space” bespeckled with little irregular droplets. Alternatively, you could cut the paper into a raindrop or umbrella shape for the child.

If you enjoyed this process art activity for toddlers and preschoolers or found it helpful, please share on social media or leave a comment. I would love to hear from you! Happy painting.

If you enjoyed this, you may like:

• Seed Painting
• Seed Collage
• Wind Painting
• Rabbit Tracks