The diary of Dad

With Robbie starting primary school in a just a few months, I’ve realised that now is the time to start doing a few crafts at home to make sure he is ready for the classroom. This easy raincloud craft is so simple that it seemed a great place to start.

Perhaps I should have started with the paints a little sooner with my Son but the reality is that art was never my strong point. His Dad will be a big help when it comes to numbers and letters but my skills with a paintbrush are far from impressive. This may be a bigger challenge for me than it is for Robbie.

Fluffy cloud craft for kids

So let’s get on with it. Here’s how to make your own cloud art with toddlers using just a few items and very little skill. This is craftwork for beginners remember! Here’s what you will need:

• Cotton wool
• Child friendly glue
• Blue kid’s paint and brush
• Card (We used blue card but this is not essential)

Since Robbie is only three years old, he needed a fair amount of help from his Dad. Older children may be able to do far more themselves but I would always recommend supervision when using paint and glues.

Making the cloud

To make the fluffy cloud, I created the outline and covered the inside in Elmer’s glue. I then left it to my glamorous assistant to fill the cloud with fluffy cotton wool, which he did so in great style!

I then added a few drops of blue rain coming from the cloud before handing over the brush and asking him to add more. In true Robbie style, he went way over the top and filled the whole page with rain. The weather has been terrible here today so Perhaps that was his artistic motivation.

As with any craft, it is always wise to throw in a little education where you can. We took the opportunity to create a few more clouds on different backgrounds and with different weather conditions. We made paintings of a sunny day and one of some snowfall, which came out terribly I must admit. We talked about different weather conditions and the seasons as well as clothes you might need for each one. Robbie would be furious if he knew I was secretly trying to educate him whilst he thought we were playing!

I hope this helps a few Mums and Dads trying to find the perfect first craft to ease their kids into the world of art. Robbie and I will be trying a few more complicated bits and bobs soon and hopefully they will go well enough to share them with you in the future.

We have also been playing around with making a few paper plate crafts recently. These are such a flexible piece of craft kit as you can build anything from paper plate butterflies to raincloud and weather crafts. We have made way too many variations to share them all on here but I would strongly suggest paper plates as a great start to a toddler’s crafting career.

In the meantime, if you have stumbled upon this post in an attempt to pass a little time with the kiddies, this guide to making your own play dough may help. A little like painting, it is a really great interactive activity to do with both toddlers and older children and may even result in giving them something to play with for a few hours. Hopefully.