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Coloring Books???
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My mom HATED coloring books
She thought they destroyed creativity. She couldn't stand that the pictures were already drawn.
The only thing she had more contempt for was color-by-numbers, where they told you not only where to color but what colors to use too!
Can you imagine what she would think about online coloring? Where all your child has to do is click the coloring area and fill it in with some pre-chosen color?
I wonder what color Mom would turn!
An art teacher visitor to this site writes an eloquent eloquent defense of coloring books(but not of online coloring pages).
The truth is coloring books aren't all that bad
They help with small muscle coordination. Your child learns how to hold a writing utensil. (You are showing your child how to properly hold the crayon, aren't you?)
These are skills that will prove useful in school and in life.
But online coloring? I don't care whether you call them
they're all the same thing (and NOT worth investigating, because I'm about to give you some better ideas).
Printable coloring books, on the other hand, are okay.
(As are printable coloring pages.)
For free you can print out a picture outline for your child, and let them color - the old-fashioned way - to their heart's content.
Follow one of the links above and I'll give you a few good ideas.
The current state of children's coloring
To some extent, coloring has come a long way.
If you're willing to pay a premium, you can find beautiful coloring books with elaborate, detailed drawings. Of course, if your child is still scribbling, the pictures are going to end up looking pretty much like all of your child's pictures!
If a beautiful coloring book interests you, I find that typing coloring books and detailed into a search engine query box produces some excellent results.
Of course, in the desktop publishing age, personalized coloring books are also an option. Just type the term into the search engine.
Also, if your child has some specialized interests, you can usually find books that speak to these as well. For instance, typing insect coloring book into one popular search engine brings back more than 300,000 results.
An alternative to online coloring
Have you heard of KidPix? It's children's drawing software that will blow your (and your kid's) mind. It's about a thousand times more creative and intensive than fill-the-space-with-color coloring.
My daughter goes to a great school, and they use KidPix intensively. Not only does it encourage creativity, but it encourages a mastery of valuable computer skills.
Want to know more? Check out my Kidpix page.
Back to coloring books...
To my mind, the best books for coloring have text. Whether it's a description of the particular butterfly your child is coloring, or whether the pictures accompany a story, I believe strongly that you should want ALL your child's books to have words in them.
Drawing outside the lines
Mom didn't like to see me struggling to stay inside the lines. I'd like you to think outside the coloring book box too.
Here's a great way to give your child the coloring book experience while encouraging creativity and reading as well.
Think about... a pictureless picture book.
Seriously! There are only about a million ways to do this. Here are a few:
1) Read your child the first page of a favorite picture book. Have them draw what they imagine... or what they remember. Do this for each page and pretty soon you'll have a 2nd edition of your child's favorite book... one for which your child was the illustrator!
2) An alternative to 1) is to let your child try to copy the pictures from his or her favorite picture book. Ideal for somewhat younger children, and you get the same result as in 1).
3) Download an online children's book, then print out the text for each page. Read the story to your child and then let him or her illustrate. It just so happens that I have some FREE online children's books right on this site!
Free Pictureless Picture Books
4) Write your own pictureless coloring book. It also happens that I have another page on this site which provides instructions on how to write a children's book for your own child!
How To Write A Pictureless Picture Book For Your Own Child
It's not something you'll be able to do in half an hour, but it's something to think about when you want to give a gift to your child that will have lifelong meaning.
All of these options offer the joy of coloring, without the creativity stifling of "stay between the lines." Also, I suspect, they will leave your child with a much greater sense of accomplishment than filling in the blanks of a mass-produced picture.
Don't you think my mom would be very happy with this page?
Best Children's Books - Find, Read or Write
