Are you on the hunt for some summer activities for preschoolers? A chalk and water play activity is a perfect option! This simple activity is truly kid friendly. Fill up those spray bottles (and a few cups) with water, and grab a variety of paintbrushes and chalk. Then head outside so the kids can draw, color, and write on the sidewalk or blacktop. Then erase it all away with some water and start all over again!
Related: Sidewalk Chalk Ideas and Recipes
Even though this activity is pretty simple, the children were exposed to sooooo much! They were out in the sunshine. They played around in nature. There was sensory exploration and fine motor skills. Science was touched upon, as was literacy and math. They were practicing both fine and gross motor skills. All of this in the guise of fun and “just playing”.
Supplies for Chalk and Water Play
It was beautiful out last week, so I grabbed the kiddos and went out to play. We brought snacks, water bottles, and all of our materials to play with (I may get commissions for purchases made through links in this post):
sidewalk chalk, a spray bottle, some paint brushes, and a bowl full of water. Snoopy had fun drawing and writing with the chalk, as did Engineer. Snoopy, Girly Girl, and Engineer seemed to enjoy “painting” on the sidewalk with water, as well. They got a kick out of the fact that their paintings disappeared. Girly Girl eventually decided that she would rather “paint” the chalk pieces with water. She noted that the colors changed a bit with the application of the water.
Engineer soon discovered the spray bottle and fell in love. He squirted water at a chalk drawing he’d done, commenting on how the water caused the chalk to dissipate, “Hey! The water’s making my picture go away!” I had drawn some shapes near his picture (I can’t help it — the teacher in me just does things like that sometimes!). Engineer decided he wanted to remove the square, so he told me so and then proceeded to obliterate it. Giggling the whole time, I might add! I had also written a few random letters with chalk (yes, it’s a compulsion, I’m working on it!). I asked Engineer if he could spray the uppercase A, then do the same to the lowercase a. He happily obliged.
Then, the boys decided a lamppost needed watering. They moved along to do that, and it eventually turned into a game of chasing each other around the post. This lasted a few minutes before they all were too dizzy to continue.
Little Hurricane had fun dunking the chalk into the bowl of water, much to Girly Girl’s dismay. He got tired of that quickly, as Girly Girl kept removing the chalk from the water. After that, he had fun just carrying the now-empty spray bottle around. Engineer and Snoopy pilfered some water from the bowl to refill the spray bottle (after Little Hurricane tired of carrying it with him). They started spraying the grass, bushes, and trees. This eventually led to the discovery of ants on one of the trees. The big kids were fascinated watching the ants, but Little Hurricane just didn’t get the appeal.
When the ant-watching was done, we decided to go running around in the open area nearby (and by “we” I really mean the children). They had fun chasing each other, attempting to play tag, and exploring the trees and the pine needles. This ended up devolving into some kind of spies game. I’m still confused as to whose “spy team” I was on!
They did so much running around, they were pretty tired and sweaty by lunchtime. So it didn’t take any prodding on my part to herd them inside for a bit.
Shared at Link and Learn
Done-for-You Preschool Resources
Planning meaningful lessons for students week after week while balancing other teaching responsibilities and your personal life can be a daunting task. That’s where Preschool Teacher 101 comes in to save you time!
Preschool Teacher 101 has created some amazing preschool lesson and activity plans that will be perfect for your classroom. We have resources for a wide variety of themes and topics that will last all year long.
Click on the image below to learn more about this great resource that includes over 140 letter craft and process art ideas!
Make sure you stop by and join The Pack from Preschool Teacher 101 for exclusive access to our content. We have three options for membership to meet your needs.
Looks like much fun was had by all concerned – sometimes the simple ones are the best. Thanks for adding this the link up too.
Oh yes, they had a blast! Thanks for hosting the link-up! I’m looking forward to checking out all the fun ideas.