Today I’m sharing a fun watercolor resist art project inspired by The Little Raindrop, an adorable children’s book about the water cycle.
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We stumbled across this book at the library a few weeks ago and I grabbed it thinking it would be a cute book to read to my little one. I was absolutely right that it was cute, but I had no idea how much we would love The Little Raindrop. I also didn’t realize we’d love it so much that it would inspire us to break out our art supplies.
The Little Raindrop Book Summary
The Little Raindrop, written by Joanna Gray and illustrated by Dubravka Kolanovic, follows the journey of a raindrop as he falls from a cloud and travels from a puddle to a pond. From there he drifts to a stream, a river, and then to the ocean where he evaporates into the sky again.
Sure, this is a delightful picture book, but it’s also a wonderfully imaginative way to introduce children to the concept of the water cycle.
Watercolor Resist Art Project
Inspired by The Little Raindrop
As I mentioned, we loved the story itself, but the illustrations in The Little Raindrop made this the cutest book ever. Those illustrations inspired both of my kids to get creative and attempt to recreate art from the book.
With a five year-old and a ten year-old, I decided that a watercolor resist project was the best fit for us. It turned out to be a fun and easy project that both of my kids enjoyed.
If you’d like to create your own Little Raindrop-inspired watercolor resist project, gather these supplies and paint along with us:
- Watercolor paper
- Watercolor paints
- Oil pastels (a white crayon will also work)
- Water
- Paintbrushes
- Pencil (optional)
- Salt (optional)
Step 1 – Drawing
The starting point for this project is easy. Read The Little Raindrop with your kids and encourage them to pay attention to the illustrations. Once they look at the pages, encourage them to choose one page or one spread from the book to use as inspiration.
My son chose the cover for his painting, but my daughter selected a rainbow spread near the beginning of the book. After making their selections, they studied the illustrations and used them as a guide while drawing them.
I helped my five year-old with this step and, even though I’m not exactly a gifted artist, I was able to draw the images from her selected spread with no problems. In other words, don’t be intimidated by this step if you need to help. It’s not difficult at all!
My son started his by drawing in pencil and then going over his sketching with a white pastel. We didn’t use the pencil at all for my daughter’s project. We only drew with the white pastel for hers.
Step 2 – Painting
Once the pastel lines are complete, the fun with watercolor paints can begin!
Encourage your kids to use the illustrations as an example for color choices and placement, but remind them that they’re welcome to do things differently in their projects.
Step 3 – Salt Sprinkling
When your kids finish painting, give them little handfuls of salt and have them sprinkle the salt over their wet pages. This is an optional step, but I like it because it adds some interesting droplet-like texture to the projects. Just remember to wipe off the salt when your paintings are dry.
Step 4 – Enjoy
When the paintings are dry, find a spot on the fridge and enjoy them. You may even consider framing them or mailing one to a family member or friend. These are too cute to put in a box in the attic!
Looking for more art ideas inspired by amazing books? Check out the following posts:
- Miss Rumphius mixed media art
- Very Lonely Firefly painting
- Nuts to You! watercolor art
- Dandelion art for kids
