Windy Day Winter Sky Art is an easy STEAM experiment, watercolor painting idea, and art project for kids (or adults) that makes learning about watercolor resist mediums and techniques fun.Â
Creating windy-day winter-sky art is a fun watercolor painting idea and an easy STEAM experiment that can help children and adults learn about the science of watercolor resist techniques, improve fine motor skills, and develop their creativity. Winter art projects like these can also help children learn more about the seasonal changes that occur in the wintertime. You might also enjoy learning more about the first signs of winter with this educational scavenger hunt idea for kids.
Working with glue, crayons, pastels, and other watercolor-resist mediums will create different effects when combined with watercolor paints to make art. Scroll down to learn how to paint windy winter art and try this fun and educational watercolor art project and science experiment for kids. Toddlers, preschoolers, kindergarteners, elementary-aged kids, teens, and even adults can paint winter sky art to learn more about the winter season and the science of watercolor resistance. This art-and-science winter sky art activity idea, first published in December 2015, is regularly updated and republished to improve its content. Children of all ages also enjoy making Shadow Art.
Windy Day Winter Sky Art: STEAM Project for Kids
This science project for kids is simple: create windy-day winter-sky art as a fun, easy way to experiment with watercolors using different resist mediums and to develop fine motor skills. Creating windy day art this way makes this activity an easy STEAM project for kids. You might also enjoy painting a colorful winter silhouette with black glue.
My daughter and I painted a landscape in different shades of blue with snowy alpine trees, using white glue as the watercolor resist medium. It turned out beautifully — but not exactly as we expected. Because when we painted over the glue with liquid watercolors, it did not resist the paint as well as we thought it would. Instead, it created a gorgeous textured effect.
The textured effect it created is lovely for some watercolor art projects and painting ideas, but it’s not ideal if you want the resist medium to stay white when painted over with watercolors. So, we decided to do a STEAM experiment with a few different types of watercolor resist mediums to find out why.
First, gather the watercolor art supplies you would like to paint with from the list of winter sky art supplies below. Next, please scroll down to learn how to draw swirls with a watercolor resist medium that looks like the wind blowing on a blustery winter day. Then paint over your white crayon, oil pastel, and white glue wind swirls with shades of blue to create winter sky art and complete this fun science experiment at home or in the classroom. Use the step-by-step instructions below to try this fun art and science experiment for kids and adults! Fun winter crafts like these make learning more engaging and exciting!
Related: Tons of Fun Art and Craft Ideas for Kids
Winter Sky Art Supplies for STEAM Experiment:
- Watercolor paper or heavyweight bright white cardstock.
- Flat wash watercolor paintbrush.
- Watercolor resist medium(s) (Choose at least one type of watercolor resist medium from the recommended options below to create winter sky art, and at least two to do the science experiment):
- White glue (shown in the tutorial below)
- A white crayon (shown below)
- White oil pastel (shown below)
- Wax resist stick
- Rubber cement
- Hot glue
- Painter’s tape
- Alternatively, you can also try another crayon or oil pastel color, or black glue.
- Watercolor paint (Choose at least one of the recommended options below):
- Stockmar watercolors
- Liquid watercolor paints
- Watercolor paint palette
- Jars, glasses, or containers to hold paint and water for rinsing paint brushes:
- Recycled or reusable glass baby food jars work well for this purpose.
- It’s easy to turn glass baby food containers into watercolor dishes. They work well because the lids make it easy to reuse the paint.
- Alternatively, you can use an ice cube tray or muffin tin, but don’t leave watercolor paint in metal, or it will rust.
- Rag or paper towel
- Salt (optional)
Related: Black Glue Rose Watercolor Resist Art Project
Watercolor Resist Painting STEAM Experiment and Art Project:
Choose at least two types of watercolor resist mediums for this STEAM experiment with watercolor paints. The photos below show how white glue, white crayon, and white oil pastel work to resist watercolor paint. However, you can also try this watercolor painting experiment with a wax-resist stick, rubber cement, painter’s tape, black glue, or another watercolor resist medium you’d like to test or work with to paint winter sky art.
Produce the same experiment we did in the photographs with the step-by-step instructions below–or make slight adjustments based on your intentions or needs. Feel free to substitute any watercolor resist medium you want to test. Science is fun when art is involved, making this a great STEAM activity and experiment for kids of all ages. You might also enjoy painting watercolor roses with a black watercolor resist medium.
1. Draw winter sky wind swirls to create winter sky art with at least two watercolor resist mediums:
- Use a resist medium to draw simple swirls on watercolor paper or cardstock that look like the wind blowing on a winter day, as shown in the photographs.
- In other words, use a watercolor-resist medium to create windy day art in various swirls and patterns on the paper before painting.
- Or, use a resist medium to draw anything you like–test, experiment, and have fun!
- Make sure to create each drawing on a new sheet of watercolor paper or heavyweight cardstock so it’s easy to test each watercolor resist medium separately.
- My daughter used white glue, oil pastel, and a white beeswax crayon to create the winter-sky swirls in the photographs. A plain wax resist stick is also an excellent choice for this watercolor science experiment.
- If you use glue for this winter art project, allow it to dry completely before painting over it with watercolors.
2. Set up an area to paint winter sky art:
- Prepare to paint a winter sky on a windy day and to conduct a watercolor resist science experiment simultaneously. Follow the steps below for each artist painting a winter sky:
- Use a watercolor paint palette, or put Stockmar or liquid watercolor paints into baby food jars diluted with water.
- Place a glass of water on the table to rinse the paintbrush.
- Put a flat-wash watercolor paintbrush on a dry rag and a damp sponge nearby.
- The glass of water is for rinsing the paintbrush between colors, and the rag is for wiping the brush on before dipping it into the next color.
3. Use Watercolor paint to paint over the wind swirl drawings to test each watercolor resist medium and create winter sky art:
- Before painting, ask children to come up with a hypothesis about what they think will happen or what they will discover in this fun STEAM experiment for kids.
- Then, paint each drawing to test each watercolor resist medium.
- In other words, use watercolors to paint on top of and around each winter sky drawing to see if there are differences among the watercolor resist mediums.
3. Sprinkle salt on each winter sky watercolor painting (optional):
- To add more science to the mix, my daughter sprinkled salt on each of her watercolor paintings while they were still wet.
- If you’d like to try this winter sky art option, sprinkle salt on each winter sky painting before it dries, as shown in the photograph below, to create another beautiful art effect that surprises younger and older artists alike.
- Isn’t science fun?
Related: The Best Art Supplies for Kids and Why Young Artists Should Use Them
Our Winter Sky Watercolor Painting Experiment Results:
Investigate and observe differences in the resist mediums as they are painted and after they dry, with this fun winter sky art project and STEAM experiment for kids. And to make it even more fun, sprinkle salt over your paintings to see what happens! You might also enjoy this list of winter art projects.
The photographs of my daughter’s watercolor winter sky paintings below show the results of our science experiment. Please scroll down to see her beautiful works of art. She painted three similar windy-day drawings with white glue, white crayon, and white oil pastel as watercolor resist medium to create three separate winter-sky art paintings.
Crayon Resist with Salt Watercolor Winter Sky Art:
The photograph below shows how a white crayon sky art drawing looks when painted with liquid watercolors and then sprinkled with salt.
Oil Pastel Resist with Salt Watercolor Winter Sky Art:
The photograph below shows what white pastel windy day art looks like when it is painted with blue watercolors and sprinkled with salt. As you can see, it resists the color really well where it was drawn across the page. You can even see the texture of the paper in the windy art painting.
White Glue Resist with Salt Watercolor Winter Sky Art:
The photograph below shows what white-glue wind-spiral drawings look like once they are painted over with liquid watercolors and sprinkled with salt.
Related: Winter Tree Black Glue Watercolor Resist Art
Science Experiment with Watercolor Reist Mediums: Questions to consider
When children finish painting their windy day drawings to create winter sky art, ask them the following questions to help them learn more about the science of watercolor resistance:
- Which watercolor resist medium did you like working with best, and why?
- Do you think any of them work better than others? Why or why not?
- Which resist medium do you think resisted the watercolor best, and why?
- Can you come up with a hypothesis of what happened, how it happened, and why?
- Would your choice of resist medium change based on the type of art project you are working on? Why or why not?
- Can you think of any other materials or art supplies that you could use as a resist medium for art projects that were not mentioned in the recommended art supply options above?
Related: The Best Winter Art Projects for Kids
Watercolor Painting STEAM Experiment Conclusions:
As mentioned above, in an earlier project, we painted white glue to make snowy alpine trees. But it didn’t turn out the way I thought it would, so I created this fun watercolor science experiment for my daughter to discover why.
The Science of Watercolor Resist Art Mediums:
As a result of this STEAM experiment, we discovered several types of watercolor resist mediums that would better produce the desired watercolor art effects. Before this watercolor science experiment, my daughter and I learned that white glue does not prevent the liquid watercolors from staining it. However, after doing this STEAM activity, we discovered that white crayons and oil pastels could resist the watercolors, leaving the windy day art or drawing white underneath the watercolor paint.
Why did the white crayon and oil pastel resist the watercolor paint, while the white glue did not?
The answer is simple science. Oil and water do not mix. When you paint over the wax crayon, stick, or oil pastel, the water repels the paint, and the area stays white. White glue absorbs the paint because it contains water and absorbs the color. If the glue on the paper has time to cure for several days rather than only a few hours before painting, it will likely resist the paint better. Test it to find out for yourself!
Please Encourage Children To Ask and Answer Questions:
My daughter wondered why the pastel and crayon did not show up like clear lines, so we talked about the texture of the watercolor paper we used and how a smoother piece of paper, like cardstock, might produce a softer line without texture.
Next, we wondered about other resist art techniques. Would the glue from a glue gun resist watercolor paint better? Why or why not? What about painter’s tape and rubber cement? Will they resist watercolor paint? Why or why not? Give it a try to find out!
Salt and Watercolor Paint:
What about the salt? How and why did it produce the fun-spotted snowflake effect? The answer is also simple science. The salt absorbed the water and repelled the pigment. You see–science is fun!
Black Glue Watercolor Resist Art Projects:
If you like working with resist mediums, you may also enjoy painting black glue watercolor resist art. Click on any of the projects below to learn more about them:
- Winter Tree Black Glue Watercolor Resist Art
- Rose Black Glue Resist Art Project
- Under the Sea Black Glue Watercolor Resist Art Projects
- Starfish Black Glue Resist Art Project
- Fall Leaves Black Glue Watercolor Resist Art Project
You might also enjoy this fun Winter Art Projects list and this Art & Craft Ideas collection. Learn more about Rhythms of Play HERE!
If you enjoyed painting winter sky art, you may also like:
More Fun Art Projects for Kids:
- Christmas Art Projects and Painting Ideas
- Best Winter Art Projects
- Heart Art Painting Ideas
- Rainbow Art and Craft Ideas
- St Patrick’s Day Art Projects and Painting Ideas
- Flower Art Projects and Painting Ideas
- Easter Art Projects and Painting Ideas
- Fall Art Projects and Autumn Painting Ideas
- Halloween Art Projects and Painting Ideas
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