Raindrop

The simplest page here

A raindrop is one shape — round at the bottom, pointed at the top — and one background. There is nothing else on the page. That is deliberate: some children need a page they can finish in two minutes, and giving them one is more useful than giving them something impressive they abandon.

The shape itself is worth a mention. Real falling raindrops are not this shape at all — they are round, or flattened like a bun. The pointed teardrop is a drawing convention, not an observation, and children of six or seven enjoy being told that adults draw it wrong.

Where rain comes from

The water cycle is usually taught at seven or eight, but the short version works much earlier: the sun warms puddles and the sea, the water goes up as invisible vapour, it gathers into clouds, and it falls again. A puddle disappearing on a sunny day is the part a four-year-old can actually watch.