As we move through the digital age, we’re seeing an increase in screen time for kids of all ages. It is now estimated that young children and adolescents get 4-6 hours of screen time every single day.
The reality is that in a highly digital world, it can be beneficial for children to become familiar with a variety of technology from a young age. That being said, there are still tons of activities that can help developing minds that don’t involve screens.
Buying coloring pages for your children can seem like a small, unsubstantial act. The reality is that coloring comes with tons of developmental and emotional benefits that can’t be matched by other activities.
Read on to learn eight major benefits of buying coloring pages for your children.
1. Developing Hand-Eye Coordination
Coloring, as opposed to free drawing, provides a structure to your child’s use of tools like crayons and markers. While there’s no real pressure to color inside the lines, they will likely give it a shot over time. This allows children to practice the art of visualizing something while aligning their hand movements with what they see, improving their hand-eye coordination.
(Fun bonus: developing hand-eye coordination early will make it easier for kids when it comes time to start writing!)
2. Improving Motor Skills
Motor skills aren’t something that we’re born with; we develop them through practice! When your child spends an hour or two colouring, they are strengthening the small muscles in the fingers, hands, and wrists. This targets fine motor skills, which help us to manipulate smaller objects and move with ease and grace.
Motor skills are something we need throughout our entire lives. From playing sports to using utensils to riding a bike or driving a car, our motor skills are what make these activities possible.
3. Encouraging Creativity
Everyone, big and small, deserves the opportunity to express their creativity! Handing a child a colouring page and a box of crayons, markers, or coloured pencils can open doors to the creative expression you didn’t know existed.
Colouring not only allows your child to explore colour but also allows them to see how things like lines, shapes, and shades can come together to create a picture. This, in turn, allows them to unlock their imaginations and explore all sorts of creative possibilities.
4. Building Vocabulary
Outside of a school setting, children pick up most of their vocabulary through observation and absorption. It’s easier to understand words like “blue” or “puppy” when you have a visual representation in front of you when you hear it for the first time.
Coloring pages present tons of unique opportunities to learn new vocabulary words. Take this triceratops coloring page for example. While interacting with this coloring page, you can help your child learn more about dinosaurs, colors, plant life, insects, and more!
5. Providing Relaxation
There’s a reason why we’re seeing a huge increase in the adult coloring book market: coloring is incredibly relaxing!
Coloring is a no-pressure activity with, if wanted, a clear starting point and a clear ending point. Taking the time to color a coloring page gives your child a chance to step back from more challenging activities, engage their imagination, and ultimately unwind. In fact, many children find coloring to be a therapeutic way to cope with hard feelings, practice patience, and understand positive forms of expression.
6. Rewarding Self-Expression
Speaking of expression, coloring is a great way for your child to practice the art of self-expression. They can choose whatever colors they want to use, color in or outside of the lines, and even add their own drawings to their coloring pages.
Of course, it’s important for young children to learn how to express themselves using words. However, it’s important to embrace multiple forms of self-expression for kids of any age. Sometimes, it’s easier to express your feelings through art!
7. Boosting Confidence
Working on and completing a colouring page can be a great confidence boost for young children. The satisfaction of completing a task is always present when colouring. Plus, they get to see the finished product of their own choices in colour and style, which is always rewarding!
When you encourage your children to colour and show interest in their completed pages, this can go a long way toward building their confidence. Hanging a page or two on the fridge or helping them hang up their pictures in their room can also provide a nice confidence boost. At the end of the day, there’s no right or wrong way to colour a picture, and every kid should feel confident about the pages they colour!
8. Having Fun Without the Screens
As we mentioned earlier, there are good reasons for children of all ages to engage with screens. In an increasingly digital world, this competence with technology is going to help down the road.
However, it’s still important to encourage non-screen activities and remind your kids that there are plenty of fun things to do that don’t involve a phone or tablet! Presenting colouring as a fun pastime (rather than, say, a required alternative to screen time) is a great way to nurture positive feelings toward non-screen activities.
Buying Coloring Pages Is Simple Yet Effective
It’s easy to overlook the major benefits of buying colouring pages for your child. At the end of the day, buying colouring pages is a simple but very effective way to encourage your child’s development in a wide variety of areas!
Colouring isn’t just beneficial; it’s extremely on-trend! Want to know what else is trending lately? Take a look around to stay on top of the latest trends from fashion to home decor to educational tools.
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