The Surprising Benefits Your Children Can Get From Coloring
One of my fondest memories as a child is of coloring. Crayons, pencil crayons, markers all brought vibrant colors into my world and made art come to life. As a child, we learn a lot about color through coloring.
Colors are all around us each and every day, although we may not think about them that much. They influence our choices in what we wear and what we like or don’t like about things in the world. One of the most popular questions kids ask each other is ‘what’s your favorite color?’
Because color is such a big part of our life, I wanted to explore just how coloring can benefit children in particular.
How coloring benefits children
The obvious benefit children gain from coloring is they learn a lot about color theory. This, in turn, will help them to further their knowledge about how colors blend together and how tones can impress a mood.
What is a more subtle benefit to coloring is that kids learn to focus more. When coloring, they need to concentrate and think critically about what they are doing to do it. It will help them in other areas of learning as they develop patience and determination in their work.
Who recalls coloring as a small child and the frustration of not doing it well? Those mini lessons in helped to build resolve. You will do it better next time. Or do you remember coloring something pink when it should have been yellow? The realization that colors should be one way or the other is part of the critical thinking process. Understanding that we see colors one way or another.
These mini lessons learned aren’t obvious to the child, of course. We are just doing something fun when we color. It’s relaxing, it’s fun. All of childhood is, in fact, a learning lesson wrapped up in a package of innocence and wonder. Colors play a big role in childhood.
Children are learning a sense of self-accomplishment each time they color. Last time they colored, it was outside the lines. Now it’s inside. Last time the sun was pink, now they understand it looks real when it’s colored yellow. They understand now too that a pink sun is a fun color to make the sun and that when they color, they can let their imaginations play with color.
As they progress in their coloring skills, they learn that blending colors is possible, and that it makes new shades of colors. They are learning the names of the colors and how not all blues are just blue.
The coloring book is teaching more than just color when opened. In fact, patience, perseverance, critical thinking, fine motor skills are all in play.
There is a reason why the adult coloring book market has exploded. We now understand that coloring is also therapeutic. It calms, it relaxes. In fact, studies have shown that it can help in children who experience high levels of anxiety.
So, do you have a pack of crayons or markers handy? Why not take out a coloring page today with your kids and have fun being colorful!
Older kids who may find that coloring isn’t holding the same appeal as it once did can be encouraged to embellish their coloring sheets. While the page may just show a few flowers in a field, children can add in their own drawings or work. This can become a deeper art lesson by practicing their pointillism, cross-hatching, and shading.
If you don’t have a coloring book, you’re in luck! I just created a fun coloring book based on all the characters in our book series. Our coloring pages have themes of nature, family, kindness, imagination, and fun! Packed full of 90 pages of coloring fun, there is sure to be an image for any child or adult to have fun with.
Small children can also practice decoding words and reading with our sentences on each of the pages too!
We would love to hear from you about your coloring page memories as a child. What inspired you? How did coloring make your childhood fuller?
