The spring came then left in the rainy pacific north west and my twitter stream has been  filled with others from around the world sharing my woe about dark rainy days. This rainy day craft is a perfect way to talk about weather , have fun and create. Hopefully the sun comes out soon and we can all get back to the best part of springtime, being outside!

1. Gather your materials. You will need some construction paper ( any light color) , some blue paper, scissors, cupcake liners ( or coffee liners but you’ll need a larger piece of paper), some paint or markers, glue, tape and pipe cleaners.
2. Start by having your child paint or decorate the cupcake liners with markers. We are using our Do-a-Dot Art which we love , but markers would be great too.
3. While they do that cut out some big fat raindrops out of the blue paper.
4. Add some glue dots to the paper.
5. Add your rain drops. This is where I usually ask questions about whatever we are making especially if it’s something literal and not free expressive art, So I will say something like ” Where does rain come from?” “Do you like the rain?” He shares his thoughts, I lead him to more questions and the facts.
6. Fold the cupcake liners in half or cut. Then I bent and added the pipe cleaners to the  with tape.
7. Add more glue for your umbrellas.
8. Add the umbrellas and let dry.

Books

I Love The Rain by Margaret Park Bridges is a sweet book about relishing the wet weather instead of hiding from it. Two little girls are on their way home from school, one hiding under her umbrella the other tongue out loving the rain. With a little encouragement both girls are loving all the amazing things about rainy weather, from racing raindrops on the bus windows to comparing the sounds of the rain to tap dancers! Living on the rainy west coast I love books about rain and it was an instant hit with my son.

Rainy Day Slug by Mary Palenick Colburn is a slimy story about a banana slug that makes his way from the garden through a yard, and into a house. My son loved this simple book. When the slug makes his way into a little boy’s bedroom and eventually across his cheek, which wakes him up with a startle which my son thought was amazingly entertaining. We also loved the references to Seattle, a painting with the Space Needle and a Mariners pendant in the little boys room, I was impressed my son picked up on it.

Rain Makes Applesauce by Julian Scheer  is a fantastical book. It’s obtuse and silly and my son didn’t get it at all. I liked the fantasy of it. Each page has  silly statements with coordinating detailed illustrations by Marvin Bileck that really steal the show, followed by ” And rain makes applesauce”. My son did catch on to the repetition quickly and enjoyed adding it after each page. That said when I asked him what he thought , he said ” I’m not going to read it again, it was too silly, but not funny silly.” I think he is simply too young to appreciate the book, although wonder if he’d be interested by the time he is old enough to, I hope so!  This book is out of print but many libraries carry it so check it out !