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Water Painting on Coloured Chalk

January 27, 2012 by Anna Ranson

Have some creative fun (and some playful literacy too) with an easy, indoor, water painting activity!
Pop is verging on being obsessed with painting and wants to do it ALL the time. ย So much so that “paint, Mummy” was one of her first sentences! But we can’t have painting out all day as she will paint on anything and everything, so this week I came up with an idea to keep her happy and it has proven very popular with them both.

I shaded all over their chalkboard ย easel using the side edges of coloured chalk. Some days I made it multi-coloured like a rainbow, others just one.

Then I set out paint pots filled with clean water and a range of thick and thin paintbrushes for experimenting with.

Pop loved water painting through the colourful chalk background and was absolutely thrilled to have permanent access to her special “paints” at all times.

She took the paintbrushes for a walk and made some lovely curving shapes, refining her gross motor skills as she did so!

When Cakie had a go she immediately wanted to paint pictures and represent people and objects.

This is a FINE portrayal of Daddy!

She loved how quickly it dried and that she could start over very quickly and this fact kept drawing her back often for new experimenting and play. She started practising her mark-making and letter formation and was particularly good at making the first letter from her name using a large, sweeping movement.

Gross motor letter writing is a very important stage of early mark-making and literacy skills. It improves co-ordination, arm and hand strength and gets children ready for more refined fine-motor skills later on.

Learning Links:
Literacy: practise writing graphemes from own name (and then beyond), make marks to represent meaning, experiment with role-play/emergent writing, being to form letters correctly

Creativity: explore media in two and three dimensions, make marks and patterns to represent objects and people

Physical: practise gross motor arm and hand movements, hold a tool correctly, strengthening shoulder and upper arm muscles, good posture and rotation from the shoulder and elbow when painting/ mark-making

Cakie: 3 years 4 months
Pop: 22 months

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Filed Under: Art and Craft, Creativity, Gross Motor Development, Literacy, Painting, Water Play Tagged With: Playful Literacy

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Comments

  1. Susanna says

    January 27, 2012 at 7:17 pm

    What a fab idea. I too have a real problem with anything ‘messy’ being left out- even pens are an issue right now, but water I can cope with! Think I may need to stock up on chalks!

    • Anna @ The Imagination Tree says

      January 29, 2012 at 12:39 am

      yup, it’s a great one for those “oh no, not more mess!” days! ๐Ÿ™‚

  2. Jessica says

    January 27, 2012 at 7:23 pm

    I have always let my preschoolers paint with water on the chalkboard, but it never occurred to me to color it with chalk first. What a beautiful colorful idea! Thanks!

    • Anna @ The Imagination Tree says

      January 29, 2012 at 12:39 am

      Me too Jessica! Mine used to love painting the playground walls and floor too!

  3. Brittney says

    January 27, 2012 at 7:23 pm

    This looks like something I could handle, and my kids would like! Thanks for the inspiration!

    • Anna @ The Imagination Tree says

      January 29, 2012 at 12:39 am

      You’re welcome! hope they love it ๐Ÿ™‚

  4. Amy@Let's Explore says

    January 27, 2012 at 8:20 pm

    What a fun project! I think even my older girls (7 and 9) would enjoy this. ๐Ÿ™‚

    • Anna @ The Imagination Tree says

      January 29, 2012 at 12:40 am

      Absolutely! I did and I’m definitely older than that! ๐Ÿ˜‰

  5. Tonii says

    January 27, 2012 at 8:24 pm

    You are brilliant. My little boy is 2 and would LOVE to do this, and I would love not cleaning up paint everywhere like I usually do. Thank you SO much for another great idea!!

    • Anna @ The Imagination Tree says

      January 29, 2012 at 12:40 am

      You are very welcome and thank you!

  6. maggy, red ted art says

    January 27, 2012 at 8:28 pm

    We LOVED playing with your chalkboard today! Especially Pip Squeak (2yrs). Brilliant!

    Maggy x

    • Anna @ The Imagination Tree says

      January 29, 2012 at 12:41 am

      aww thanks Maggy! we loved having you over ๐Ÿ™‚

  7. Pip says

    January 27, 2012 at 9:23 pm

    lovely idea and not too messy either!! thanks for sharing xx

    • Anna @ The Imagination Tree says

      January 29, 2012 at 12:41 am

      thanks!

  8. Naomi @ Upcycled Creatively says

    January 27, 2012 at 10:16 pm

    What a great idea! Wouldn’t it be fabulous on a chalk board wall?!

    • Anna @ The Imagination Tree says

      January 29, 2012 at 12:41 am

      yes!

  9. Allison says

    January 27, 2012 at 10:47 pm

    Great idea! My older two are responsible enough with their paints to do it on their own, but I’m keeping this in mind for when my twins are a bit bigger. ๐Ÿ™‚

    • Anna @ The Imagination Tree says

      January 29, 2012 at 12:41 am

      They might still love it even so! ๐Ÿ™‚

  10. Stephanie says

    January 28, 2012 at 1:37 am

    just “pinned” this. great idea. so easy!

    • Anna @ The Imagination Tree says

      January 29, 2012 at 12:41 am

      thanks for the sharing love!

  11. Toddler Titbits says

    January 28, 2012 at 8:08 am

    Ah love this idea!!!

    • Anna @ The Imagination Tree says

      January 29, 2012 at 12:42 am

      thank you!

  12. TheBoyandMe says

    January 28, 2012 at 8:36 pm

    This is brilliant, and I love the fact that it’s minimal mess! I’ve pinned it, and shared on twitter too. I really like that you put the ages of your children at the bottom, such a helpful guideline.

    • Anna @ The Imagination Tree says

      January 29, 2012 at 12:42 am

      thanks! yes, i think the minimal mess seems to be its main appeal, lol!

    • Anna @ The Imagination Tree says

      January 29, 2012 at 12:42 am

      ps thanks for sharing- MUCH appreciated!

  13. Sally says

    January 28, 2012 at 10:44 pm

    Great idea! I have kids the same age so this is perfect!

    • Anna @ The Imagination Tree says

      January 29, 2012 at 12:42 am

      thank you!

  14. Jode says

    January 30, 2012 at 4:03 am

    What a great idea…i am running out of rainy day activities that don’t redecorate the house so this will be great for my toddler twosome!Thankyou!

  15. Alicia says

    January 30, 2012 at 8:04 am

    What a fun idea! Thanks for sharing!

  16. MilkChic says

    February 6, 2012 at 12:50 am

    Great idea! Thank you ๐Ÿ™‚

  17. Jessica @ Play Trains! says

    March 7, 2013 at 12:55 am

    Wow, this is a really cool idea! I’ll have to wash the paint off of my son’s chalkboard so we can try this.

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About The Imagination Tree Hello and welcome! I'm Anna, Mama of 4, early years teacher and play enthusiast from the UK! Click here to read more about me.

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