Self-healing hydrogels can autonomously recover to their original state after damage, which possess important potential promising applications. In this work, the interaction between ferric ion (Fe3+) and carboxyl (COOH) in the poly(acrylic acid) (PAA) chains was utilized to prepare the hydrogels with self-healing property. During the polymerization which was induced at the room temperature for 10 h, FeCl3and potassium persulfate (KPS) were added into the acrylic acid (AA) monomer to prepare PAA hydrogel. Fe3+ serves as both initiator and cross linker in the self-healing PAA hydrogels. The approach of fabricating self-healing hydrogels is facile, the reactive materials of the method are simple, and the reactive condition is easily realized. So the approach supported by this work is perfect for scale production of self-healing hydrogels. The self-healing velocity of the prepared hydrogel is rapid and the damaged sample can recover to the original shape in 12 min. Moreover, the hydrogel shows excellent transparency, which is propitious to prepare the hydrogel with unexceptionable optical performance.