Water – simple, safe, low-cost, and endlessly fascinating, is one of the best early learning tools a parent can offer.
A World of Water (WOW) Guide to mark-making – in collaboration with the late great author, Julienne Ford (English Literacy Foundation).
Early literacy begins long before children recognise letters or read their first word. It starts with mark-making, sound awareness, play, and talk.
This page gathers simple, screen-free activities that help children explore water while naturally strengthening the skills that later support reading.
Games, Stages 1 to 3
A playful journey from first shapes to first words. Each game builds on what came before, letting your child explore letters, sounds, and meaning through simple, joyful water play. Start at Stage 1 and see how curiosity and imitation turn into early literacy skills – all while having fun together.
The Magic of Water Painting
Water painting lets children create marks that appear, darken, and vanish again – a small piece of everyday magic.
Stage 1: Shape Play
Start with the simplest shapes – circles, lines, and squiggles. Use water on a safe surface and let your child copy your strokes. Celebrate each success with delight – “Ooo!” “Ahh!” – so they learn that shapes have meaning and fun.
Give your child a brush (a paintbrush, sponge brush, or any soft household brush) and a small bowl or cup of water. Let them “paint” on:
- a garden path
- a wall or fence
- stone slabs
- a large cardboard box
- dark construction paper
The water makes each brushstroke appear darker, then gradually fade as it dries.
Why it matters:
Water painting supports:
- early mark-making
- hand-eye coordination
- focus and observation
- early conversations about change, evaporation, and nature
There is no mess, no ink, and nothing to clean up – just water doing what water does.
Stage 2: Letter Mimicry
Move from shapes to letters. Parent writes a single letter with water; child copies. Sounds can accompany the movement: “Mmm” for “m,” “Sss” for “s.” This links hand movement, sound, and early letter recognition.
Scoop, Pour & Rescue Tub
A shallow basin of water becomes a mini-laboratory for discovering floating, sinking, and early problem-solving.
How it works
Use any safe container: a washing-up bowl, storage box, or large tray. Add a few centimetres of water and simple household objects:
- cups, spoons, jugs
- a colander or sieve
- safe floating items (plastic lids, blocks, small toys)
- items that gently sink (pebbles, clean pine cones, spoons)
Children naturally explore scooping, pouring, tipping, and transferring water.
Add a simple “rescue challenge”
Float a few small toys or lids and invite the child to “rescue” them with a spoon, cup, or colander. This adds purpose, language, and laughter.
Why it matters
A water tub encourages:
- new vocabulary
- early science (“It floats!” “It sinks!”)
- pouring control and hand strength
- imaginative play
- gentle environmental awareness
Stage 3: Mini Words
Combine letters into tiny, familiar words: “Me,” “Dad,” “Mama,” “Wow.” Children start to see that shapes form words that carry meaning. Water play keeps it magical – letters appear, vanish, and reappear, just like learning itself.
Painting Shapes That Speak
This game is about shapes, sounds, and shared delight – not reading lessons.
Young children love to copy. Long before they recognise letters as “letters,” they enjoy tracing circles, lines, and curves with water. When an adult adds a sound – playful, exaggerated, and joyful – something important happens: shapes begin to carry meaning.
Using a brush, sponge, or wet finger, paint a simple shape on a wall, fence, paving stone, or chalkboard. Invite your child to copy it. As they do, give the sound its full voice:
- A big round shape becomes “oooo!”
- A short line and curve becomes “eeee!”
- Two shapes together become “in!” or “on!”
There is no need to correct, test, or explain. This is a shared moment, not an exercise. Your child is discovering – through water, movement, and sound – that marks can stand for sounds, and sounds can stand for ideas.
Over time, these playful exchanges quietly build the foundations of communication. Children begin to connect shape, sound, and meaning, often surprising themselves (and you) with words they recognise, repeat, or invent.
This is emergent literacy in its earliest form – joyful, physical, and social – and water makes it feel like magic.
Here is a simple first word list: about 40 highly teachable, high-utility words, chosen because they are:
- Visually simple to “paint” with water
- Phonetically clean (short vowels, hard consonants only)
- Easy to dramatise with voice and gesture
- Immediately meaningful to very young children
- Useful for copying, pointing, acting out, and celebrating (“You read it!”)
This is not a reading list – it is a play list.
LPB Early Readers
Simple First Word Set
(for water play, shape-copying, and sound-making)
Core Meaning Words
a
and
at
in
on
is
it
Family & People
dad
man
men
him
his
Action & State
can
get
got
run
sit
let
Feeling & Description
big
bad
sad
hot
wet
red
Play & Objects
hat
bag
box
pen
tin
sun
Fun / Identity
elf
fun
(approximately 40 words)
Why this list works for Water Play for Early Literacy
These words are ideal for:
- Water painting on walls, paving, fences, chalkboards
- Big arm movements (curves, lines, dots)
- Sound celebration rather than correction
Examples you described work beautifully:
- Parent paints O → child copies → “oooo!”
- Parent paints E → child copies → “eeee!”
- Parent paints IN → “in!” (hand goes in water)
- Parent paints WET → splash → laughter
Before long, children naturally reach:
- ME
- DAD
- MAMA
- OK
- WOW
Not because they were taught – but because shapes + sound + joy + repetition connected.
Why WOW includes these activities
These water activities help with the steps before using our early readers by building curiosity, communication, attention, and delight focused around water.
The activities are:
- no-cost
- universally accessible
- screen-free
- environmentally gentle
- fully aligned with WOW’s mission to connect learning with the natural world
Use them anytime. Ignore them anytime. They are simply here for families and nurseries who enjoy communicating the hands-on water-play way.
Try one activity this week and share it with a parent, nursery, or early years group interested in screen-free learning.