Painting with water is one of those activities that kids absolutely love and can spend hours doing over and over again. It helps build their creativity and confidence to experiment and develop early writing skills. And all you need is a bit of sunshine, brush and water!
I remember as a child painting with water on the ground outside the front of our house. It was something I could spend hours and hours doing because as the sun warmed the ground the water would dry up and I could simply start all over again. Writing my name and painting pictures of places I’d been were all part of the fun. So anytime Possum (aged 3.5 years) notices the beautiful Spring sunshine outside I can almost guarantee she’ll request a paintbrush and pot of water.
Recommended ages: 2 years +
(Active supervision is required on all my activities)
This is one of those activities that you can simply hand over the materials and let your child have fun with it. You’ll no doubt be surprised with what creative ways they can paint with water.
Possum had lots of fun experimenting with drawing stripes, circles and swirls. We talked a little bit about the length of each stripe and how they compare, as well as the size of the various objects she drew etc. This prompted lots of great discussion and encouraged her to use great descriptive words to describe what she could see.
Another wonderful thing about when your child paints with water is that they can experiment with various ways of ‘painting’. Possum had a fabulous time dipping her brush into the water and flicking it. This caused the water to splatter and reach long distances. It of course then became a competition to see how far she could flick the water or how many times she could get mum wet. Lol
Painting with water is so much fun and a great way for your child to experiment and feel comfortable to have a go with early writing and drawing skills. It makes for a great outdoor activity and you really only need water and paint brush – simple! I hope you all have a wonderful time with this idea.
What other activities do your children enjoy outdoors?
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Fantastic blog post! This is a wonderful childhood memory of mine. Kids just love being able to paint and what better way than a mess free painting session.:)
Thank you so kindly Kat. I absolutely loved doing this as a kid too and I love that I can pass this simple idea onto my own children. 🙂
My kids use 1″ decorating brushes which hold a lot of water and make a very defined mark. We’ve also tried bigger brushes [4″ brushes are great and luckily I have some old ones left over from house decorating], also a radiator roller [a mini roller on a stick]. Our absolute favourite is splatter painting
That’s so brilliant Elaine. I’d love to offer different brushes too. Great thinking. 🙂
Super cool activity. You teach multiple painting methods.
Loved it truly!