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Painting and writing using water can be a great, mess-free way to practise mark-making skills outdoors.
Take a bowl of water and a couple of brushes out to the pavement or patio and let your child get imaginative with patterns and pictures.
Watch the video below for advice on how parents can encourage their little one in this activity.
Mum: Shall we find a spot here? Yeah?
Mum: Oh, look at all this space for us to draw our water painting.
WATER PAINTING IS A FUN AND EASY WAY TO PRACTISE MARK-MAKING
Mum: Which one are you going to use first?
Child: That one.
Mum: You're going to use that one? Well done. And what colour is your brush?
Child: Two colours.
Mum: Well done. Yours is two colours.
Mum: I'm going to draw a diamond. Look at that.
Mum: We could make some spots with that sponge brush.
Mum: One, two, three, four. LAUGHS
Mum: Shall we try the smaller brush? Yeah? Want to try that?
Mum: Shall we find a spot here? Yeah? And we can make some more patterns.
USING A PAINTBRUSH CAN HELP THEM DEVELOP THEIR HAND-EYE COORDINATION SKILLS
Mum: Do you know what? We should try a flower. We haven't tried a flower.
Mum: Okay, so if you hold your brush like this, then you can get lots of small detail. Do you want to try and hold your brush like this?
Mum: Yeah, like that. And it means you can get lots of detail.
USING DIFFERENT BRUSHES CAN HELP THEM DEVELOP THEIR GRIP SKILLS
Mum: Well done! That's a lovely smiley face you did! And then you can scrub it out and then you can start all over again.
Mum: And what colour has our water gone now?
Child: Brown.
Mum: Brown, yes.
Mum: Shall we do it again tomorrow? Good job!
What is mark-making?
It's exactly what it sounds like - making marks on paper, cardboard, walls, or, like in the video above, the ground.
Your child might use paint, pencils or pens to make marks, but water is a great substitute - especially if you don't want to deal with a huge clean up operation!
Mark-making has tonnes of benefits for your child, which you can read about below…
What are the benefits of painting with water?
Using a brush and water to paint or draw is a great outdoor activity to try with your child - they get to express their creativity and you don't have to deal with a huge clean up!
Mark-making, like painting with water, is great for your child's hand-eye coordination skills and using different sizes of brush can help them to develop their grip skills.
These motor skills are really important as your child starts to use pens and pencils more often in nursery and school.
Remember to talk about the things your child is drawing too. You might ask them what they'd like to draw, then ask them about what it is they've chosen
The more you ask your child about their drawings, the more likely they'll be to speak in longer sentences and tell stories about what they're drawing.
