Whether you’re snowed in or rained, you can help a dreary day become a little more colorful with this simple trick: wipe-clean window decorations that will help make the day sparkle!

To start, I outlined a few “frames” on our glass patio door with masking tape, just waiting for each section to contain a work of art by the kids. I then set out a set of dry-erase markers in a variety of colors.

Veronika immediately wanted to decorate, especially when I drew one little “snowflake” to spark her creative juices. She told me she was drawing more snowflakes, presents, and more!

She was a busy artist at this unique “canvas” for quite a while.

Pretty soon, big brother Travis trotted over. He proudly added a few drawings of his own, including stick figures and writing the kids’ names.

Leave the decorations up to brighten any day. When you decide it’s time to clean up, the dry-erase markers wipe off easily with a damp paper towel.

The next time you have a rainy day, take advantage of it for this art project! There are two “artists” who will complete each painting: your child and the raindrops!

To start, I set out cups of water and watercolors so Veronika could paint all over thick white paper. To be honest, she was much more interested in the cups of water today; after just a few swirls on the paper, she turned her attention to swirling the water around in the cups!

I made a second painting with big dots of watercolor, too, so we’d have two pictures to set outside for the next step.

Now we made a quick foray out into the rain and placed down our paintings. It’s useful to secure the paper in place with rocks or pebbles, especially if your rain storm is accompanied by wind.

Wait until the pages are covered in raindrops, then bring back inside! The rain makes neat effects, sometimes diluting our colors, sometimes making them run together, and no matter what resulting in a pretty final work of art.

Veronika has been obsessed with a rainy day episode of Blues Clues recently. So when we had a real rainy day today, I used the opportunity for a raindrop-themed craft.

First, squirt rainy day shades of paint onto a paper plate. We mixed dark blue, light blue, and black. Then, simply squeeze an empty toilet paper tube into a teardrop shape.

I showed Veronika how to dip in the paint and then stamp on the paper.

“Look at all the raindrops!” she said so happily. She took charge of the activity and didn’t want any help, which meant many of her raindrops were sideways. But I loved that the resulting artwork was authentically hers.

I covered a second sheet of paper with more raindrop stamps, and this time drew in a little dog ‘Blue’ towards the bottom.

In sum, this is a great way to keep toddlers busy of a rainy day.