Classroom activity Grade 2 Art & Music

Puddle, Splash, and Drip Prints: A Grade 2 Storm Texture Rotation

A four-station printing rotation where grade 2 students make storm textures, test two tools against each other for the ripple print, and caption each finished print.

Grade: Grade 2
Subject: Art & Music
Material: Classroom activity
Time: 45 min
Prep: Moderate prep
Materials: Washable tempera paint in two blues and one gray, poured into shallow trays, Pencils with flat erasers, one per student, Squares of bubble wrap, one per pair, Plastic forks and wide-tooth combs, three of each, Cotton string cut into arm-length pieces, one per pair, Newsprint or copy paper cut into four small squares per student, Paper towels and a bucket of rinse water

Standards

K-2-ETS1-3 NGSS

Analyze data from tests of two objects designed to solve the same problem to compare the strengths and weaknesses of how each performs.

How this material aligns: At the ripple station students print with a plastic fork and with a wide-tooth comb, record what each tool's lines looked like, and compare the two results before choosing one tool for the class print.

All materials for K-2-ETS1-3 →

W.2.2 Common Core ELA

Write informative/explanatory texts in which they introduce a topic, use facts and definitions to develop points, and provide a concluding statement or section.

How this material aligns: Each finished print gets a caption that names the part of the storm it shows and adds one fact or definition about where that water goes, and the caption on the fourth print closes the strip at the storm drain.

All materials for W.2.2 →

Download Word file

This material is in the public domain (CC0) and may be copied, edited, and shared freely, without attribution. Updated 2026-07-23.

Objectives

Students will make four printed textures that show four parts of one rainstorm.
Students will test two tools for the same print and compare what each one did.
Students will write a caption naming the part of the storm and where that water goes.

Vocabulary

Storm drain: A storm drain is the grate at the edge of a street that swallows rainwater and sends it through pipes to the nearest creek or river. That water is usually not treated, so only rain belongs down the drain.

Also: texture, print, ripple, gutter

Teacher overview

Four printing stations stand for four moments of one rainstorm, and students rotate through them in storm order rather than in whatever order the room happens to flow. The first station makes scattered first drops, the second makes the downpour hitting pavement, the third makes ripples spreading across a puddle, and the fourth makes the thin trail of water running along the curb toward a storm drain. Each student leaves with four small prints that assemble into one strip.

Station three does double duty. Two tools are set out for the same job, a plastic fork and a wide-tooth comb, and students print with both before deciding which belongs on the class strip. That comparison is the reason the station exists, so protect the time for it, since a group that prints with only one tool has nothing to compare afterward. Plan on a helper at the rinse bucket, since paint-covered combs are awkward to carry across a room.

Activity Directions

Before class, set four stations around the room in a loop and number them 1 through 4 on folded cards. Put a paint tray at every station. Station 1 also holds the pencils with flat erasers. Station 2 holds bubble wrap squares. Station 3 holds the forks and the combs. Station 4 holds the string pieces. Put a drying rack or a stretch of newspaper along one wall.
Gather the class and read aloud: "A storm has parts. First a few drops fall. Then the rain comes down hard. The rain makes puddles, and the water ripples. At the end, water runs down the street to a storm drain." Point to the matching station as you name each part.
Demonstrate each station for thirty seconds. Press the eraser end of a pencil into paint and dot the paper. Press painted bubble wrap flat onto paper. Drag a painted fork across paper in a curve. Lay a painted string on paper, fold the paper over it, and pull the string out.
Divide the class into four even groups and start one group at each station. Groups spend six minutes at a station, then rotate on your signal in numerical order, so every student ends having made all four prints in storm order.
At station 3, each student makes two ripple prints, one with the fork and one with the comb, and writes one word on the back of each print for what those lines looked like. Before the group rotates, the group holds up both prints and agrees on which tool made the clearer ripples.
After all four rotations, students lay their four prints in storm order on the drying paper and check the order with a partner. This is the formative check: any student whose prints run out of order gets a partner conversation, not a correction from you.
Students write one caption under each print, then answer the handout questions.
End the activity by taping the four group-chosen ripple prints on the board, one from each group, and asking which tool most groups picked and why. Close with the handout debrief.

Puddle, Splash, and Drip Prints: A Grade 2 Storm Texture Rotation — Grade 2 Art & Music

Name: ____________________________ Date: ______________

Student Handout

At the ripple station you tested two tools. Which tool made the clearer ripple lines, the fork or the comb?
Write one thing the other tool did well.
Which one of your four prints shows the rain hitting the ground the hardest?
Water runs down the street and into a storm drain. Where does that water go next, into a pipe or into the sky?
Write a caption for one print. Name the part of the storm. Then add one fact about where that water goes.

From Water for Schools (waterforschools.org). This material is in the public domain (CC0) and may be copied, edited, and shared freely.

Answer Key

Answer: Either tool, with evidence. Both answers are correct when the student names what they saw, such as the comb making thinner even lines or the fork making fewer, wider lines. Look for the reason rather than the choice.
Answer: A strength of the rejected tool. Accept any honest observation, such as the fork covering more paper quickly, the fork being easier to hold, or the comb making lines that stay the same distance apart.
Answer: The bubble wrap print. The bubble wrap print stands for the downpour, when the rain is heaviest, and its many round marks pressed close together show that.
Answer: Into a pipe. A storm drain carries the water into a pipe under the street, which usually leads to a creek, a river, or a pond rather than to a treatment plant.
Answer: A caption naming the storm part plus one fact. Accept any caption that both names the part, such as first drops, downpour, ripples, or runoff, and adds a true statement about where that water goes, such as running along the curb or soaking into the ground.

Differentiation

Support

Pair these students with a partner at every station and give them the printing tool already loaded with paint, so the motion is the task rather than the setup. Provide four caption cards with the part of the storm already printed, leaving only the fact sentence to write. Number the backs of their four papers 1 through 4 in pencil before the rotation begins so the ordering step in step 6 has a check built in.

Extension

Ask these students to invent a fifth print for what the street looks like an hour after the rain stops, choose their own tool for it, and write a caption that explains why they picked that tool. They can also test a third tool at station 3, such as a stiff brush, and rank all three from clearest to least clear with one sentence of evidence for the ranking.

ELL supports

Post the four station names with a sketch beside each, and say the name of each part of the storm while pointing at the demonstration print rather than at the word. Give a caption frame with the sentence opening supplied, for example "This print shows ___. The water goes ___." Accept spoken captions scribed by an adult at the drying rack, and accept the word for the tool in the home language on the back of the station 3 prints.

Extensions

Mount the four prints as a single horizontal strip on a long sheet and hang the strips together as a class storm frieze, which lets the whole group compare how differently four people printed the same downpour. If a real storm arrives during the unit, take the class with clipboards to a window, or to a covered walkway if there is no thunder or lightning, and have them sketch one texture from life, then print it the next day using the tool they think will match it best.