Printable coloring pages are OK...

...but let's think outside the box too

Okay, let's start with three ways to find good printable coloring pages.

Option #1)

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

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

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

Option #2)

Go to Free Coloring Pages - printable coloring 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 printable coloring pages.

The pictures are nicely detailed, 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!

A coloring confession

I'm not a huge fan of either printable coloring pages or old-fashioned coloring books in most of their forms. My mother thought coloring books stifle creativity and I tend to agree.

After all, your child isn't drawing pictures. Your child is merely coloring inside of pictures.

Sure, coloring helps your child with hand-eye coordination. Your child can practice properly holding a writing utensil as well.

And if you print out a page for your child to color offline, you're miles ahead of the online coloring books fad, where the only thing your child learns is how to point and click.

No benefit there. I'm glad you weren't planning on turning your child into a point and click zombie.

Hold on! Do you know about KidPix©? My daughter's kindergarten class used it extensively. These kids were mastering computer skills like you wouldn't believe, while having the time of their lives.

With KidPix©, they can draw freehand (with the mouse) or use a multitude (and I mean multitude) of effects. It's like the "Paint" program on your computer, but on steroids.

So they have fun, but it's the way they master the computer that was so exciting for me. They were finding files and saving files and they couldn't even read yet!

The very cool thing is that you can get the software cheap. As I write this (July, 2006) the current version is Version 4. The thing is...Version 4 stinks! (I know. I bought it.) Just not user-friendly.

The good thing is Version 3 is still available, and it rocks.

But can we do better than free printable coloring pages?

Well, I can't beat free, but I can match it. And at the same time I can lead you toward an activity more enriching for your child than just printable coloring pages.

The literary alternative to printable 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. You could:

1. Copy the text from a favorite book onto blank pages. Let your child illustrate from memory or imagination.
2. Let your child copy - in his or her own hand - the pictures from a favorite book onto blank pages.

Or...

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

...much like it's awash in printable 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 I have on this site! Or (and maybe this'll sound crazy) write the text for a children's book yourself and let your child illustrate. It'll be a book you wrote and illustrated together!

And it just so happens I have a How To Write A Pictureless Picture Book page right on this site! (Warning: it's a long page.)

I promise, if you follow through, it'll be one of the most rewarding things you'll ever do with your child.

Whichever option you choose, I'm confident it will be a richer one for your child than just another printable coloring page.