April means rain and we’ve been learning all about the water cycle, rain, and thunderstorms, so this was a fun spring-themed umbrella art project.

You’ll Need . . .

• 8.5 x 11 white or gray card stock
• scraps of patterned paper
• strip of brown card stock
• glue stick or white liquid glue
• black marker
• washable tempera paint (we used black, white, purple and blue)
• paintbrushes
• fork

Paint the Background Paper

We used black, white, purple, and blue tempera paint to completely cover a piece of card stock. It’s easiest if you can squirt a bit of each color of paint directly on the card stock, and then encourage kids to mix the paint colors in swirling motions, imitating dark rain clouds.

Once the paper is covered with paint, use a fork to add some swirly texture by creating circular motions with the tongs of the fork.

Then set the painted swirled paper aside to dry.

Directed Drawing Umbrella Art

Let the kids choose a piece of patterned paper for their umbrella. Show them how to make the umbrella by drawing a large “U” on the paper. I emphasized that mine isn’t perfect, so they shouldn’t worry about theirs being perfect either.

Then top the large “U” with connecting little “u”s. Before we started, my least-art-enthusiastic child was hesitant about drawing an umbrella, but I think seeing it broken down into simple directed drawing steps makes a project less intimidating for kids (and maybe adults too?!).

We’re practicing scissor skills, so I had the kids draw the umbrella shapes on the patterned-side of the paper, and then cut inside the black lines so the lines wouldn’t show on the umbrella’s front. You could always skip this step by having the kids draw the  non-patterned-side of the paper.

Then, draw the handle on the strip of brown card stock by drawing a “bubble letter J,” and cut it out.

Glue the Umbrella

Assemble by gluing the handle underneath the umbrella, with a little peaking out the top, if possible. If the kids haven’t made their “J” handles tall enough, have them glue another small piece of card stock to the top of the umbrella (on the underside).

When the painted paper is dry, glue the umbrella on the center of the paper, and embellish the umbrella art with a black marker by drawing lines along the edges.

Directed Drawing Umbrella Art Projects . . .