Free coloring pages online? My mom would not be pleased...

My mother thought coloring books stifle creativity

If she knew about free coloring pages online, she'd be horrified!

Sorry, my coloring books are NOT free. That's because they have value. They can: Keep your child occupied for hours Improve a problem behavior Learn more about Children's Behavior Books.

At least real coloring books help your child with hand-eye coordination. Your child can practice holding a writing utensil as well.

But what does your child learn playing with a free coloring page on the net?

How to point. How to click. That should take about a minute and a half. What's your child getting out of the rest of the hour? Quality time with Spiderman© and Barbie©?

You know how these free online coloring books work, don't you?

An uncolored coloring book page appears on the screen, along with a color palette. Your child clicks on a color, then clicks on a part of the picture. Voila! That part of the picture is now the color your child chose.

Children compare it to their own scribbled coloring and feel it looks better. Thanks to the software, they've stayed between the lines. They're proud of themselves.

But don't you want your child to feel proud of real accomplishments? An infant could have "colored" the exact same picture by crawling over the mouse!

Remember this: free coloring pages are free for a reason

On most of the free coloring page sites, the pop-ups are abundant and persistent! I have two pop-up blockers and some still got through. Should I really leave my child on the computer at this site? She could click on the wrong popup and bomb Canada!

And, of course, there are attractive, flashing ads all over the free online coloring screens. Leave your child on the computer and don't be surprised if you end up with 37 subscriptions to Bass Fishing Weekly.

Sure, free coloring pages don't cost anything. Sure, they keep your kid occupied for awhile. And sure, your kid might love them.

But trust me, for the rest of his or her childhood and adolescence, your child is going to be spending quite enough mindless time in front of a screen, be it computer or television. Do you really want to contribute to the problem by addicting your child to mind-numbing coloring pages online?

Let's consider some coloring page alternatives

If coloring is the goal, there are some free coloring pages on the web that are printable.

Printable coloring books make sense. You the parent can pick and print the picture blanks, and your child can work on that hand-eye coordination that was the original goal of coloring books, before the internet began using them as advertising vehicles.

(Have you checked out State Farm Insurance's free coloring pages? I'm not kidding.)

Three ways to go for printable free coloring pages

Option #1)

Find out what your child would like to draw. (Let's say she chose a horse.) Pick your favorite search engine.

Type printable coloring book or printable coloring page in quotes. Type horse. Search.

Along with the usual internet garbage, you should have some horse pictures to choose from. Now just print!

Option #2)

Go to Free Coloring Pages - printable coloring pages online. Click Printable Coloring Pages, NOT online coloring. Now pick a pic! (Or there's a Print Activities option as well, for mazes, connect-the-dots, etc.)

Option #3)

Visit National Geographic's coloring pages.

The pictures are printable, there's information on the animals depicted, and most of the ads and links are for National Geographic. Your giraffe-loving child could color a giraffe and then watch a one minute giraffe video.

Doesn't all of this sound better for your child than coloring online?

Computer art-making alternatives

Your computer likely has a basic drawing program that your child could experiment with and master. Your child's creativity would be much less limited by that than by free coloring pages online.

With my Windows XP, I find the basic program under

All Programs > Accessories > Paint

Or, if you want to take computer art-making to the next level, check out 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 free coloring pages on the net.

My daughter goes to a great school, and they use KidPix© intensively. Not only does it encourage creativity, it encourages a mastery of valuable computer skills.

(Here's the thing, though. The current version, as of this writing, is Version 4. It isn't nearly as good as Version 3, it's way confusing, and it's way buggy. Save some money and some grief and buy the older version, at least until Version 5 comes out.)

The literary alternative to free coloring pages and coloring books in general

Instead of online free coloring pages, what about free online pictureless picture books?

Here's the angle. We all know we're supposed to be reading to our young children. A lot.

Most of what we read are picture books. Now what if the picture book text were accompanied by...blank space?

Your child could supply the illustrations that the text inspires. No lines to stay inside of, just pure imagination. Coupled with reading.

The web is awash in free children's books...

...much like it's awash in free coloring pages. Same theory. Surround the good stuff with a ton of advertising.

So if you want to provide your child with a great coloring and reading experience...

If you think it'd be fun to read to your child a book that your child has actually illustrated...

Then start searching Free Children's Books at your favorite search engine. Or...

Check out the free children's books we have on this site!

My last free coloring pages alternative

When you arrived here, you may have been about to plop your kid in front of the computer to be assaulted by advertising and occupy time in an unproductive way.

What about plopping Junior in front of the computer instead to do something productive? And fun?

I learned to type at age 15, and that was considered early at the time. Now, my daughter's kindergarten learns to type.

That's right. They're learning to type at the same time they're learning to read.

Maybe I'm simple-minded, but those things sure seem to complement each other. Writing print. Reading print. My daughter is reading way before I ever did. Hmm...

Her computer lab teacher scoured the web for kid typing programs that weren't all about the advertising. He found Dance Mat Typing.

Of course, he had to surf to England to do it, as this online program comes courtesy of the British Broadcasting Corporation.

I've watched the kids in my daughter's class use it. They love it. There are sound effects, as well as cartoon animals to coach your children and celebrate with them when they complete a sentence.

Beats the heck out of free coloring pages on the web for usefulness and skills, and still lets you leave the kid in front of the computer (and not the TV) when you need to get something done.

And on top of that, there's nothing compelling your child to link out of the page to somewhere you'd rather (s)he not be! Or not see!

Go to the Best Children's Books coloring books page.