I wrote a long time about about coloring books and often refer to my favorites in some of my posts. I
love having a good selection of coloring and activity books in my office and at home. One thing that I have discovered is that coloring isn’t just for kids these days. I will often join the kids I work with or my own daughter when she is coloring. I do this for several reasons:
Some of my favorite coloring and activity books right now are the following:
Secret Garden and Enchanted Forest-these two books by Johanna Basford are more than just coloring books. They are also coloring adventures that take you on a journey through a beautiful garden and an enchanted forest to discover what is in the magical castle. The pictures are all in black and white and have so many little details to color in. In addition to coloring some of the most magnificently drawn pictures, you have to find objects hidden within each picture. I also like that some of the pages have mazes to go through and pictures to complete.
While these books are most definitely for older children, they are definitely something that could be done together with your child. Having them look at the pictures and tell a story based on what they see is great for building up their language and imagination skills. You can play a game of I Spy while looking at the pictures to find some of those hidden objects. I first discovered these beautiful books when shopping at my local toy store, Norman and Jules, but you can also find them at the bigger bookstores and other speciality toy/bookstores.
Color Me Calm-this is a book that was designed for busy and crazed adults. At a time where life gets busier and more complicated each day, we find ourselves to become more stressed and overstimulated by work and family obligations. Created by art therapist Lacy Mucklow and artist Angela Porter, Color Me Calm has about 100 different coloring templates that were created specifically to get a person to color themselves to a calmer and more relaxed state of being. The book is broken down into seven therapeutically-themed chapters including Mandalas, Water Scenes, Wooded Scenes, Geometric Patterns, Flora and Fauna, Natural Patterns and Spirituality. The intention of the book is for adults to put pencil to paper and get themselves into a state of creativity and relaxation. Some of the pictures could be appropriate for younger children, but this is definitely intended for older children and adults.
Daydream Doodles-I’ve been looking through the shelves at Barnes and Noble and other bookstores non-stop lately trying to find new coloring and activity books for not only the kids I work with, but for my own daughter who has officially turned into one of those kids who can’t stop drawing and coloring. While I love to see her imagination come to life on paper, it isn’t always so easy for her and she needs some jumping off ideas. Throughout this book, there are several different kinds of activities. You can color in pictures, complete different kinds of pictures or draw your own patterns on objects. This coloring book is definitely more appropriate for older children (they suggest 6 and older). In addition to working on improving visual motor and visual perceptual skills, it is great for working on creative thinking and imagination skills. I like that you can also work on language skills while the kids are completing their pictures. You can also work on improving executive functioning skills be encouraging them to talk about what they are going to draw, how they are going to do it, etc..
Usborne Big Book of Drawing, Doodling and Colouring-I am a huge fan of all the Usborne activity books. They have a wide range of coloring and drawing books that will spark the imagination of children. This book is especially awesome because it has a wide range of activities in one book. There are pictures and patterns to color in and complete, various scenes for children to color in and add their own details and pages that will teach your child how to draw things step-by-step. The book is filled with a ton of modern and stylish pictures ranging from monsters, animals and food. I have found that many of my kids, even those who typically resist any kid of drawing/coloring activities, love looking through this book and finding the “right” picture for them. My favorite pages are those that teach kids how to draw different animals, people and objects step-by-step. The directions are easy to follow but also leave plenty of room for kids to use their imagination and add their own details to pictures. This book promises to be fun not only for your children, but for the adults who want to color and draw with them!
Here are a few handwriting/coloring tips to keep in mind when coloring with your children:
*always encourage a child to hold a writing instrument properly. Broken crayons or short colored pencils are an easy way to get a child to hold a writing instrument with a tripod-like grasp. Some of my favorites are the Faber-Castell Jumbo Triangular Colored Pencils, Flip Crayons by Handwriting Without Tears and the Staedtler Triplus Fineliner Markers.
*if you are working on increasing upper body strength, have children color on an elevated surface like an easel or tape the paper to a wall.
*let kids do what they want with colors….let them choose whatever color they want for what they are doing without telling them what they should do. Coloring should be an activity that allows kids to express themselves and expand their imagination skills. They want to color an elephant pink…go for it!
*try and encourage a child to stay in the lines when coloring, but don’t make a big deal about it if they don’t.
*work on building language skills by having children tell you a story about their picture. Encourage them to elaborate and talk about the details by asking them meaningful questions.
With summer just a few days away, I’m finding that parents are asking me more about what they can do for their children to keep working on their fine motor and visual skills while they are taking a break from therapy. Coloring, drawing and activity books are a great and fun way for kids to keep working on skills that have been addressed in therapy during the school year. So many parents want to be more involved in their child’s therapy but complain that the kids won’t “work” for them. Coloring is a great way to hide the therapy piece.
The books I suggested in this post are definitely geared more towards older kids, but there are many other books out there for younger kids. If you want to read about books that are better suited for younger/pre-school aged children, check out this post here.
Do you have any great coloring or activity books that I should add to my library? I’m looking forward to nights of coloring with my little girl this summer and would love to test out some new ones. I am always a click away and love hearing from you all.