We all loved coloring as kids, in fact I have never even heard of a child who doesn't like to color, personally I never grew out of it. I may not have exactly announced to the world that I continued to color through my young adult life but once I had a my little princess we were back in business with no feelings of shame or guilt that I enjoyed coloring as much as I did. Much like with movies, rides and games once you have a child you are given a free pass to again enjoy these activities with out the funny stares.
There are numerous benefits to coloring including perception, creativity, recognition of colors and shapes, concentration and gross- motor skills. All these benefits are well documented and can be read about in thousands of published articles, they are also common sense in my opinion. I found that although these benefits are extremely important there are also a lot of benefits that seem to not get quite the same recognition.
Coloring helped my little Kiara learn to express her feelings more openly, I found she used coloring as means to show how much she cared for everyone in her life. She got extreme pleasure out of making pictures for me, her teachers, friends, my friends, family and later in her life she used them to express her love of my fiance. Coloring also, sub consciously, taught her proper etiquette as she began to color thank you pictures for everyone who gave her presents, she used them as cards for loved ones on holidays, birthdays and all occasions and eventually felt as if she showed up to someones house it was her way of bringing something to share.
Coloring can also be extremely therapeutic to both your child and you, not only does it teach how to express feelings and etiquette but also provides family and bonding time with your child. Some great conversations have been had at our dinner table over a bowl of grapes and a coloring book we discuss the day at school, how we feel about whatever is going on in our lives at the time and we create inside jokes.
Coloring is a very calming it is a perfect activity to share with your child between dinner and story time. It relaxes and calms your child after a long active day. Coloring is also a very good and cheap activity when stuck indoors on those rainy days. Coloring books are readily available at dollar stores, discount stores and there are endless websites were you can download free pictures for coloring.
Coloring is educationally, creatively and emotionally beneficial to a childs development but most importantly it is fun for everyone!
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