Painting with Water and Getting Wet!

One of my favorite activities to do with children is painting with water.  It’s super easy, not too messy, and pretty much free.  It’s an activity that’s great for lots of ages and can be used to enhance skills like literacy, math, and science. 

The best thing about painting with water is that kids can paint anything that they wish.  I’ve seen kids paint fences, concrete steps, trees, bushes, etc.  It will dry leaving nothing behind within minutes or seconds.

I first did this with J last summer when J was 14 months old.



And again this past week at 22 months.


The one thing that stays consistent anytime that an activity involves water….is that J gets drenched.


He absolutely loves water and loves being wet.  Because of this, there are a few things I must consider before I let him play in water:

• Do I mind having to change his entire wardrobe and possibly having to throw him in the bath?
• Do I have the time to let him play until he’s done.  Stopping him in the middle of water play always leads to an upset J…so I make sure to be respectful of that and give him time.

If the answer is no to either one of these than I tell J that we can’t play in water right now.  Most of the time I make time later in the day that we can play with water.
Who knew painting with water could be so messy!