Teacher Mom: Water Painting

Water painting.  It is just like what it sounds like - painting with water!

We have been water painting lately and it is a big hit with my toddler.  

He loves to paint, but painting with real paint is so messy right now.  He paints everything but the paper, licks the paint and I have to watch him so closely.  Painting with water gives us both freedom to enjoy the painting process without any stress.  We'd 10/10 recommend it!

 

Supplies:

small bowl of water

paint brushes of varying sizes

a kitchen towel or two

toys to paint - cars, trucks, construction trucks, dinosaurs, zoo animals, Barbies or anything that can handle water.

Directions:

Model painting the objects - carefully dabbing the toys with water and short/long strokes with the brushes.  The kids will imitate them.  Change water often.  I like to to small bowls of water to contain the spills vs giving him a huge bowl of water.

Warning: Animals might end up taking a "bath" in the water bowl :)

This is really fun to do outside when the weather is nice or at the kitchen counter while you're making dinner.  We've done both!  

It's a great time to name colors, name dinosaurs, point out heads, tails, spikes and butts! haha  Or to line them up in order from biggest to smallest.  Line them all up head to tail or to make a line of animals.

Older kids: I'm hoping to include the older kids in water painting with paint brushes on the patio this Summer.  They can paint whatever they want - write words, practice math, draw or do art with water on the concrete.  It would be really fun to add some sidewalk chalk into the painting process to see what kind of art the kids could make.

 

Car Wash & Nail Salon.

Leo loves to wash his cars and paint finger nails with water :)  Both are fun and minimally messy.

Happy playing!!  What things would your kids enjoy painting??