Big List of Rainy Day Art Activities

What can you do for those rainy days when your kids can’t go outside but you want to have fun together? Why not take it as an opportunity to do an art lesson or teach a new art skill? Art is fun when it’s stress free, and if you let your children be creative, they will love being able to explore the things they can create. Use this Big List of Rainy Day Art Activities to get you inspired!

Why not try giving them the materials and simply showing them by your example a few possibilities…then let them try on their own. Better yet, just start doing art yourself, and you can bet they will want to get in on the experience.

You don’t have to be an art expert to do this. In fact, at a beginner’s level it’s mostly about learning what different mediums and materials can do and beginning to see things like an artist. I hope this will be a list you can visit often to get you started when you feel the urge to add art to your homeschool and just need an idea to begin!

 

Rainy Day Drawing Ideas:

1. Get out a sketchbook and paper and draw still life, portraits, self portraits, or something using perspective.
2. Use colored pencils or good quality markers. Try shading or gradient scales.
3. Draw comic style graphics for a story, comic or poem.
4. Try looking at and drawing optical illusions.
5. Use art pens or thin sharpies to create line drawings. Color with pencil or watercolor.
6. Let your child draw a favorite interest. My daughter loved drawing fairies when she was little.
7. Scribble and then create a funny creature or other drawing you see in it by coloring what you see. You can also just make an abstract collage.
8. Use the child’s name to make an interesting picture or design.
9. Teach a little shading by showing your child how to add a shadow to one side of a drawing.
10. Draw animals and more with charcoal. Start with basic shapes and then add details and fur.

 

Rainy Day Painting, Stamping and Ink Ideas:

1. Mix colors and learn about the primary, secondary, and tertiary colors.
2. Do stamping with paints. Use different types of things to create new textures and techniques. Some possibilities are sponges, tooth brushes, cut veggies, Q-tips, etc. Example- Pointillism with Q-Tips
3. Use stencils to create an outdoor seaside, jungle, forest, etc. landscape. Or use paint tape on canvas!
4. Do a watercolor resist project. Draw with crayon or wax pastels first and then water color over.
5. Paint paper and then cut pieces to design a new project. Watercolor Seaside collage idea here.
6. Use inkblots to make cards, pictures,  fairy faces, animals, etc.
7. Make animal paintings using Q tips. Paint a simple animal shape and add dots. You can make snakes, cheetahs, turtles, frogs, etc.
8. Make your own prints with Styrofoam and block ink. If you don’t have block ink you can just use thick paint. Make an impression in the styrofoam and then cover with ink or paint. Stamp your image on paper.
9. Make your own homemade art stamps with blocks and foam sheets. See how I made my own geography stamps.
10. Make your own scratch painting. Paint a whole sheet of paper then use end of forks, paint scrapers, pencils, back of paint brushes, etc. to make an image. Basically you draw the image into the paint by scratching the paint off. It removes some of the paint leaving an image. Try flowers, designs and more.

 

Rainy Day Multimedia Ideas:

1. Create your own dress up and play items with paper mache.  You can make hats and so much more!
2. Use text as texture by combining drawings and old text from books, magazines or newspaper.
3. Make a themed collage  or a self portrait collage!
4. Create a 4 season or seasonal nature scene.
5. Use pastels or chalk to draw or use white chalk on dark paper. Add a second medium to the project.
6. Use bubble wrap and other types of texture creating materials to paint texture. Then use the painted textures to make collages and layered projects. Even the simplest images can be beautiful when you use multi media in layers.
7. Make self portrait collages!
8. Imitate the work of an artist using more than one medium! Here’s a favorite recreation lesson of Hokusai’s the Big Wave.
9. Make homemade silhouettes. Use two types of paper to create a multimedia effect. All you need to do is cast a good profile shadow and trace. Cut out and post creatively to interesting background.
10. Make mosaics. Any media is possible from paper, tiles, buttons, and more! Be creative and use what you have!

Rainy Day Paper Ideas:

1. Paper weaving projects are easy and kids love them.
2. Paper hearts and other shapes can be sewn in layers and added to embellish gifts, wall decor, and other endless projects.
3. Make your own paper from recycled material.
4. Cut paper “snowflakes” but use colored paper, then after they are created cut them into different shapes or use stencils to cut them out into shapes to make animals. For example, cut into a circle and use it as a turtle shell overlay for a painted, drawn, or cut out turtle body.
5. You can make so many things with tissue paper from stain glass projects to flowers!
6. Create paper crafts with a theme and use to decorate your homeschool or special nook! Example: Music Nook Paper Crafts

 Books and Art for a Rainy Day:

1. Have fun together making puppets for a favorite book and then have your children retell the story with them. Here are some Colorful Characters we made for the book Grandpa Green!
2. Make paper plate masks for a story or unit study you are currently doing.
3. Read a good living book on music and make instruments from recycled materials.
4. Study an author illustrator like Eric Carle or Tomie dePaola.
5. Read a book and study the medium. For example, read Harold and the Purple Crayon , do a crayon project and learn how crayons are made.

Rainy Day Miscellaneous Art Ideas:

1. Study Artists. There are numerous artists to choose from. Free Artist Notebook Pages
2. Study color harmonies. Free Color Harmonies Workbook
3. Study color gradients and create a project using a gradient scale.
4. See what you can make from what’s in your recycle bin! Masks, puppets, craft animals, homemade instruments and more.
5. Acrylics are great for kids because they are water based. They are easy to clean up if still wet. Once dry, however, they adhere to any surface which makes them great for painting different glass items such as jars, tiles, rocks, wood panels, etc.

There are so many more rainy day art activities  you could do. This is just a start! Art is something we don’t always have time for and it’s a little harder to fit in. So, on a rainy day it’s a great way to have fun with your children and to get a break from the homeschool norm.

What art ideas would you add to the list? Do you teach art in your homeschool? Or do you outsource or find great resources to complete the art portion of your homeschool elsewhere? If so, we’d love you to share your ideas!