Painting and Writing with Water
From the time my boys were toddlers, painting with water has been a favorite activity! It’s as simple as handing your kiddos a small container of water and a paintbrush and turning them loose on the sidewalk…or on the patio…or on one side of a wooden fence…the options are endless.
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I speak from experience when I say this activity can keep a kiddo busy for all kinds of time – drawing, writing, whatever comes to mind for them!
Recently, we added food coloring to our water, and that was fun, too!
My preschooler practiced writing his name, and my oldest practiced writing some of his spelling words. We painted rocks that we had recently found on a nature hunt, and we drew and painted all kinds of different pictures. Isaac drew David & Goliath and Caleb drew the house from Up.
I love that activities like this gift us with the opportunity to practice different things we’re learning while also being something I can allow my kids to explore independently – allowing their imaginations to take them wherever they want to go.
Kids can practice writing:
- the letters of the alphabet
- numbers
- their name
- your family’s address and phone number(s)
- sight words
- spelling words
- vocabulary terms
- math problems (Solving made fun!)
- and more.
Kids can draw:
- lines and squiggles (These are important – especially for pre-writers!)
- geometric shapes
- their hand prints/footprints
- things they see around them outside
- their favorite character(s)
About the Colored Water
The first time we tried this, everything started out pretty tame…except for mommy running low on yellow food coloring and everyone falling apart because their yellow wasn’t showing up all that great on the concrete. Then the color mixing began – which I rolled with because that’s all part of the learning process and I am all about embracing those magical moments of discovery. Ha! But then I ran in the house for ONE SECOND to grab the sunscreen and when I returned, everyone’s body was covered in blue and green colored water – hands, feet, arms, legs, chest, all of it. “It was a magic trick!”, they said. Hoping the dye wears off before our family pictures…scheduled for four months from now. Long story short, I think on a larger scale, I prefer the clear water option – may try the colored water option again soon…on paper…with smaller amounts of water…and smaller paintbrushes – okay, basically, it’s back to our water color palette, friends. ha!
In our homeschooling, we have another favorite water-related activity we like to do! We like to use chalk to write
letters…
our names…
sight words…
spelling words, and vocabulary terms, and then trace over them with a wet paintbrush! If you’re like me, you are always after simple ideas that can be adapted for all of the different ages in your home, and this one is perfect.
Want more of a glimpse into how we trace with water? You can find more details here.
Psst…this is fun to use for math equations, too! Maybe I can snap some photos of my boys doing that soon. Anything to bring as many senses as possible into the learning process.
Want to read more about our family’s Lifestyle of Homeschooling? Our daily schedule? A look at our week? I would be honored to share with you how we have adopted a lifestyle of living and learning together and how you can do the same with your own family:
