I have noticed how B loves to color; like how she would initiate the session by telling me "i want (to) color..", and i can see her really enjoying the black and white piece of paper perked up with the colors she added.
Just like the many other things she loves having her mommy to do with her, coloring is not an exception.
There are many benefits of coloring:
1. Strengthens fine motor skills & the muscles of the hand, wrist, fingers..
2. Learns to hold crayon / pencil correctly; i.e., between the thumb & forefinger
3. Promotes creativity
4. Reinforces parents-child bonding as they chat
5. Develops the child's patience as he/she completes / or attempts to complete the picture
6. Helps in hand-eye coordination as he/she learns to color within the lines
7. Lets them discover their favourite color(s), if any
8. Learns the object / shapes / patterns as they color
9. Keeps them occupied at one place instead of running around in the restaurant as you try your best to gobble up your dinner at the fastest time / in a plane / any other waiting scenes
And so Maomi & I bought a set of jumbo coloring pencils. Jumbo as in the thickness of the pencils, making them easier for any 2yo to grip. They are only about 3/4 of an iPhone 6 length; extremely portable. Comes with a shaperner, therefore saves us the trouble to hunt down the shelves to look for the right size sharpener.. hahah..
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| $3.90 from Popular Bookstore |
In fact, i drew on pieces of papers with whites on one-side. Clearly from the picture below, my art sucks; while in the eyes of B, she can tell what her mommy was drawing! hahaha.. So i guess my art ain't that bad.. haha..
and i help to save some trees, and therefore Mother Earth. haha.. Some credits here, please. 😁
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| My drawings for B to color |
If you would like to do the same, here are some themes to share:
🎢 Safari with giraffe, lion and hyena
🎢 Fun in playground
🎢 Underwater world with nemo, dory and octupus
🎢 A Picnic in the park with my family
🎢 ABC
My art is better seen indoors, and now i need to prepare one or a few portable coloring booklets. Inspired by what i saw at the Popular Bookstore earlier, and also some children's books (not for coloring) at Isetan, I thought of making a "Animals & their Youngs" theme coloring booklet.
This would also promote her to learn the names of the young animals instead of generalising them as "Baby xx".
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| Gathering ideas for more themes |
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| Gathering ideas for cover page of DIY coloring booklet |
So I Googled for "animals and their youngs" and compiled a list of images, and painstakingly label each of them, like "Bear - Cub", "Bison - Calf". I believe this would aid in their linking skills & therefore allow them to register better; rather than just color a shape of object without knowing what they are called.
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| Five Booklets |
The 2 on each ends in the picture above are my DIYs after compiling the pictures from the various Internet sources, and modifying by including their terms respectively.
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| How my DIY looks like |
The 2 DIYs when opened up.
I initially only wanted to do the "Animals and their Youngs" theme, but when i saw the pictures from Leapfrog's Baby animal coloring pages, they are too cute to resist printing them too! So i modified them too with their names, and i had the one at the bottom.
Sounds like I spent too much time on this? I find myself enjoying doing this though i'm not an art-&-craft person, and i get to customise what I would like B to know and learn. During the process, I also learn a new animal - Capybara. :)
The other three coloring booklets in the two pictures above are also very adorable & suit what i have in mind, with the objects and their names! Other than these three i have printed out, I found that this lady has a treasure of coloring printables that include more elaborated ones! Impressive!
So.. here are the two DIYs I have done. I added a tinge of personal touch here - personalising the coloring booklets. hahah..
If you would like to have them personalised with your kid's name, let me know. :)
Tips: I strongly encourage all to print booklets, under "Page Sizing & Handling" in the Print settings, with (1) two pages per sheet, & (2) double-sided. This way not only saves papers, when collates, folds, and staples the double-sided sheets, you get a single booklet (A5 size) with the correct page order.
I hope both your little ones and yourself will like these printables, and will enjoy your time together even more. & I hope I'd help you steal some time to enjoy your meals a little more as he/she colors away.. :)
