Disappearing Letters (Tracing Practice)

Drew doesn't like to trace letters very often, at least not on paper, but he loves water so I knew he'd do this kind of tracing practice!


During nap time I went out to the patio and made some large letters and lines with chalk.
Then I filled some old condiment bottles with water.
When the kids woke up, I gave them each a bottle and told them to trace the lines with the water and make them disappear.
This was a big hit. I refilled those bottles many, many, many times.  Drew started tracing the letters, then decided a broad sweeping motion across the entire patio would be more effective, and that of course led to drenching everyone and everything in sight. 
Lainey went straight for trying to squirt her brother.
A nice thing about this activity that I didn't anticipate was the water made the chalk seem to disappear when it was wet, but once dry the letters were all still there so I didn't have to make them again.

After we did this activity, I saw a similar post at Train Up A Child.  Be sure to check it out - she added a little something extra that I'm sure my kids would have loved!
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20 comments:

  1. I need to start saving those squeeze bottles. Love this idea. Will be pinning it to my literacy board.

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  2. Oh my goodness I love that you used recycled bottles to squirt! What a great motor activity as well as focusing on letters. This is great!

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  3. Great idea... and what kids doesn't like a squirty bottle!!

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  4. Oh! I love the idea of using those squeeze bottles as squirters!! Why didn't I think of that?

    Also an awesome way to get them to trace their letters!

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  5. Great idea for letter tracing! Water play makes anything more fun. :)

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  6. That is a really good idea.
    I'm seriously thinking of making a letter linky :)

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  7. Oh so much fun! Using those squeeze bottles is genuis! We have those water blasters but my 3 year old has a hard time with them. I bet he could do the squeeze bottles just fine though!

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  8. This is a great idea! Love it and know the kids did too. I'm your newest follower from Mama Mia's linky. Hope you'll visit my blog sometime: Kindergarten & Preschool for Parents & Teachers.

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  9. What a fun idea. I totally want to try this with my kids. Anything involving water and what seems to be magical will be a big hit. I'm visiting from "I Can Teach My child." Glad I found you. Jodi @ www.meaningfulmama.com

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  10. My buddies would love this, what an excellent use of squirt bottles. I can't wait to do this!

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  11. Nice use of the squirt bottles! My son has been using his water guns to write outside on the pavement and the screens around our pool :)

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  12. Oooh what a fun way to learn and practice your letters. Love it.

    Thank you for sharing on Kids Get Crafty!

    Maggy & Alissa

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  13. Super fun idea!Thanks for linking to Things I've Done Thursday!
    Also- I posted a special announcement on my blog today that I hope you'll check out, and I'm giving away a cute clutch over at Happy Hour Projects!

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  14. What fun! My girls would love this. Thanks for being part of the Kids Co-op :)

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  15. What a lovely idea! I am going to do this tomorrow afternoon with mine!

    Thanks for sharing on Science Sparks

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  16. What a fun idea!! Thank you for sharing at Sharing Saturday!! I hope you are having a wonderful week!

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  17. So simple and smart! I featured it in this week's linky party post. You can find it and grab a button here:

    http://www.playdoughtoplato.com/2012/05/18/weekly-kids-co-op-linky-party-2/

    Thanks again for sharing the idea.

    -Malia

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  18. Fantastic way to get outdoors to practice letters, instead of sitting inside to practice on paper! Thanks for linking up to the Outdoor Play Party!

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  19. What fun! I had JDaniel try to do this on a fence. Now I want to try the driveway!

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