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Did you ever do those paint with water books back when you were a kid? I had completely forgotten about them until I ran across some in a store the other day. Mostly out of nostalgia, I bought one for each of the kids. And as it turns out, they’ve been a great purchase!
Not only are these paint with water books a fairly mess-free painting activity, the kids love them, they are simple to set up, and they promote the development of fine motor skills necessary for writing – a win, win, win in my book!
My daughter picked the Melissa & Doug My First Paint with Water – Blue
The kids really enjoyed painting with this book.
My son picked a different kind of paint with water book – Melissa & Doug Paint with Water – Vehicles
Instead of the paint being built in to the print on the page, there was a paint pad at the top of each page in the book that the kids could use by wetting the paint areas with water.
There wasn’t a lot of paint on each pad and the kids struggled a bit to get it on their brushes, but they still really enjoyed the experience.
Now, toward the end of the day my daughter has been frequently asking to paint with her paint with water book, so I guess this activity has been a hit!
More resources for kid-friendly arts and crafts
More arts and crafts from Gift of Curiosity:
- Tape resist watercolor painting
- Coffee filter art
- Crystallized snowflakes
- Upcycled crayons
- Leaf collages
- Glue monsters
- Chromatography flowers craft
Note: For more kid-friendly craft projects, see my Arts and Crafts for Kids page and my Arts and Crafts Pinterest board.
I have look EVERYWHERE for these lately! I hate paint because it ends up as a huge mess in my house. 🙂 Where did you find them (obviously amazon, but did you find them in a store)???
-Becca
The ones I bought were purchased from a small, independent retailer near my home. I provided the Amazon link for others’ convenience. 🙂
I used to love doing these when I was little.
We were just doing this today! It’s great because they can do it on their own; all they need is a little bit of water!
Yep, I love how easy it is to set up for them!
I bought some for mine b/c I could remember using them whenever we went camping as a kid. They have had a blast with them! And I love that they can “paint” without me having to get out real paints and have a big clean up at the end.
Yep, the easy clean up is a huge bonus!
I’ve forgotten all about these! My son would love them. We always had these when we were kids (30+ years ago) and I remember liking them too.
We love painting with water! This is such a simple and fun kids activity, love that! We are featuring your post tomorrow on Share it Saturday. Thanks for linking up!
Colleen at Sugar Aunts
So funny to see you talking about this, because I bought these earlier this summer for my kids. Like you I think I got lured in by the nostalgia factor, but I also thought my kids would really enjoy doing them since they like painting so much. It has been a huge hit with them, just like it was for me when I was a kid. Just goes to show that sometimes the oldies are still goodies. Oh and I found mine at a local AC Moore.
I know kids should use real paint sometimes as well, but when I want to give them something quick and easy, these paint with water books are great!