The invention relates to the technical field of polymer preparation, in particular to air-drying water-soluble acrylic resin and a preparation method thereof; the air-drying water-soluble acrylic resin comprises 20-40 wt% of a solvent; 40-50 wt% of a monomer mixture; 0.5-5 wt% of a special monomer; 0.01-1 wt% of an initiator; 5-10 wt% of a neutralizer; and 5-15 wt% of deionized water. The water-soluble acrylic acid disclosed by the invention has excellent water resistance, has good adhesive force on substrates such as tinplate, galvanized steel, aluminum materials, glass, wood and the like, and can be used for preparing self-spraying paint and interior wall waterproof paint. According to the invention, special functional groups, such as phosphate group, amide group, carbamido group, carbamate group, siloxane group and epoxy group, are synthesized through free radical reaction; meanwhile, the material contains the macromolecules with hydrophilic groups such as carboxyl and hydroxyl; after neutralization by adding a neutralizer, air-drying water-soluble acrylic resin is obtained, and the acrylic resin has proper viscosity and can promote formation of a uniform coating on a base material and promote improvement of water resistance.