Little children love to be sprinkled with water.

Yes, it's fine.

Could you possibly mean "sprayed"?

Yes, I agree with Mr. Wordy that it's quite grammatical, but hardly true in my experience.

I imagined children playing with a garden sprinkler, or something like that. To me "sprinkling" seems gentler than "spraying". (Of course, innumerable different things could be said, depending on the intended meaning.)

Right, that's what I picture with the hose - spraying.

"Sprinkling" would have so few drops that it would just be annoying, not playful. Someone dipping their fingers into a glass of water and letting the drops fall of their hand - that's sprinkling.

My mother used to have this little bottle with holes in the end that she used when doing the ironing to get out wrinkles. I"m pi

Grammar Geek"Sprinkling" would have so few drops that it would just be annoying, not playful.

Well, all I can say is that I have no problem picturing little children having fun being sprinkled with water (as from a garden sprinkler) -- as contrasted with a full-on hosing. I guess it's up to Tom to decide whether the exact flow level he has in mind constitutes