Mar 9

Mar 9 DIY: Tissue paper rain-art canvas

Create an original piece of art from the gentle rain showers of early spring

Today we are celebrating early spring - our days are a little longer, filled with more sunshine. Flowers are budding and the grass is starting to feel thick and will soon be a green carpet under our feet! Some days, we even have gentle rain showers. There’s something really soothing about the pitter-patter of rainy days, and when it stops, we can jump in puddles and examine wet and gooey soil - the perfect consistency for growing parsley for our Passover Seder.

Rain is pronounced Geshem in Hebrew. We wanted to mark the season and welcome the soft rain showers of early spring with a beautiful piece of art - art made with geshem - rain! Every person and every living thing needs water and rain. Taking the time to really notice each wonderful raindrop is the Jewish value Shmiat HaOzen (attentiveness).

You only need a few materials to make rain art - and the best part - if you’d like, your kiddo can even catch rain drops in a bucket to use in their creation (or use tap water, I’ll never tell)! Something lovely about rain art - just like standing in a rain shower, you can get wet and a little messy. If you’re having a sunny day, you might want to create your masterpiece outside (or inside on a table covered with butcher paper). So let’s get colorful, wet and creative, and make some rain art!

Rain-Art Canvas

Here’s what you’ll need to make your own work of art:

Canvas (ours was 11” x 14”)
Bleeding tissue paper (Note: regular tissue paper will not work for this project)
Spray bottle filled with rain (or water)

Here’s how to make your own rain art:

1. Cut or tear the bleeding tissue paper into pieces (your child can help). When you have a nice pile, ask your child to arrange them on the canvas. There isn’t a right or wrong way to do this, and it’s okay to layer the pieces on top of each other too.

2. Now it’s time to make it rain! Take the spray bottle filled with “rain.” Hold the bottle pointing downward toward the canvas, and have your child spray the rain directly onto the tissue paper. Older kids should be able to do this without any help!

3. Keep spraying the rain until all the tissue paper is wet and the canvas is completely saturated. You will notice the pieces of tissue “bleed” into the other pieces. Don’t worry if this happens - it’s supposed to! This part can get a little messy, so don’t be surprised if you see colorful fingers.

4. Now it’s time to wait! Let the canvas and tissue paper dry completely. If you’re doing this project outside, it won’t take too long to dry!

5. When all the tissue paper is dry, carefully lift it off the canvas to uncover your rain art!

6. And there is it! An original piece of art made with rain, especially for early spring!

On Sukkot, we say an ancient prayer for rain - so the crops in Israel will hold enough water in the ground until the earth awakens again in the spring. On the first morning of Passover, we can say another ancient prayer. This time, instead for rain, we pray for dew - little dew drops - a gentle mist - just enough to not spoil newly growing crops with too much water. Dew is pronounced Tal in Hebrew, and some of the Passover prayer, Teffilat Tal, translates to:

Dew, precious dew, let fall upon the land…make the mountains sweet…our granaries to fill… our harvest reap…for a blessing…for life…for abundance…Amen.

What do you think of rain art? Does your family have any special traditions to celebrate spring? In Judaism, spring is celebrated as a time of life, optimism and hope. It’s such a beautiful message, and we have many wonderful ways to celebrate!

For more ideas to spring, visit our Passover Round-up to make a yummy mud pie to “grow” parsley for your Seder, bake your own matzah, make a matzah necklace, and a DIY an afikomen bag and more activities too, and be sure to let us know if you made rain art in the comments below.

Happy early spring!

~Jennifer