This idea from our April copy of High Five magazine was the perfect project on a gray day as we head into rainy April – what better way to help children enjoy all those April showers that will bring May flowers??

To start, we looked out the window at the stormy day, and I asked Travis what colors he saw, pointing out various tones of gray and deep blue. I asked him if he wanted to paint the day, and his enthusiastic answer was yes!

I set out watercolor and watercolor paper, but first we needed to add our “raindrops”: tear bits of masking tape into pieces, and adhere to the paper; when you remove the pieces later, you’ll have white raindrops left behind.

Travis barely paused for this step before diving for the paints. He talked as he worked about the various shades of blue he made…

…and then impressed me by painting “puddles”!

Mama made her own watercolor while he worked, and we collaborated on a third, ending up with three stormy paintings.

Let the watercolor dry completely before removing the tape and revealing your “rain drops”.

The paintings are perfect to transform into gifts. We folded one in half to make a “Cloudy Card” as a gift for his grandpa. A second one we cut into strips to be “Rainy Day Bookmarks.”

Finally, we glued a photo in the center of the third, making a Stormy Weather Picture Frame – the perfect gift for daddy’s desk!

What other gift ideas can you think of with these stormy paintings? Please share in the comments!