With so much tech on the rise, most younger students choose screens over manual activities like coloring. With so many benefits of such activities to a child’s development, parents and teachers continue encouraging youngsters to put aside their gadgets in favor of art.
Educational coloring pages are a sure-fire way to create an environment for children to express themselves without fear of judgment and develop critical skills. Like affordable essay writing services help students deal with a knowledge gap and fear of failure, you can help your child grow emotionally and communicate their ideas and beliefs through coloring. For kids of 3-5 years, it’s also about improving their fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination. For older students, coloring pages develop observation, critical thinking, confidence, and creativity. More than that, coloring pages can reduce anxiety, help children explore their identities, and promote curiosity, experimentation, and problem-solving. Let’s dig a little deeper.
1. Why coloring pages at home and in a classroom?
First, it’s an exciting activity and an excellent way to spend time with your kids, allowing them to relax and enjoy time with the family. While smartphones and laptops are time killers (unless you control your child’s apps and games there, of course), coloring is an actionable instrument to develop dexterity and fine motor skills. Teachers admit that many young learners come to kindergarten with poor motor skills. The reason is that they use tablets more often than their hands to play. Using crayons, pencils, and pens to color strengthens their muscles and builds endurance, decreasing hand fatigue over time and later translating to handwriting in the classroom. Tracking the page with their eyes while coloring, your kid also improves hand-eye coordination and becomes more spatially aware. Of course, coloring brings far more than physical development. Students learn and get new skills through art. The reasons for practicing coloring pages with your students include: Promote creativity Coloring pages stimulate creative thinking. A parent or a teacher gives students a choice of colors to use, drawing style to take, patterns to consider, etc. Expressing themselves in this way, kids grow more curious, confident in their ideas, and ready to experiment and try new things. As Pablo Picasso said, “Every child is born an artist.” So help them make their creative side work. With many schools cutting art programs, educational coloring pages (at least) at home are an excellent opportunity to unleash your kid’s alternative, innovative self. Reduce stress and anxiety Studies show that coloring positively influences our mental health and can reduce stress. (Why do you think art therapy is so popular and efficient?) As a calming activity, coloring pages lowers anxiety after a more rigorous class or exercise, thus balancing stress-related academic tasks for better performance. Build confidence Modern students still struggle with high expectations from parents and society, and teachers try to find activities that would improve student self-esteem. Coloring is less stressful when compared to academic tasks, so it can help youngsters feel more confident. It’s an area with no formal rules but self-expression and relaxation, so everyone can feel successful there. When your child sees that their coloring page comes to life, it gives them a sense of achievement. Increase engagement Coloring pages are an excellent instrument to engage your kids in a manual activity and set aside their smartphones or tablets for a moment. Use it to spend time with children. Draw together and discuss what you do: describe a page with adjectives, name colors you use for different objects, and come up with short stories about what you see in the picture — this can also assist with language development as your child will learn new words from you. Coloring pages are great to use for student engagement in a classroom. They’ll see a blank page and feel the anticipation of coloring it and seeing what it could be. With many online art learning resources, teachers can also address their students’ passion for digitalization and offer them to color pictures online. Most children love bright colors and coloring, so they’ll be happier to focus on it in a classroom after some energy-consuming lectures or tests. Encourage patience Coloring requires children to be neat and stay inside the lines. While creating the picture, they learn to be patient for a better result. Parents can help their kids develop this trait by introducing more complex coloring pages over time. It won’t be too challenging for them to handle, but they’ll encourage them to persevere, focus, and take their time to complete. Expand concentration When coloring, children use the parts of their brain that enhance concentration. Their focus on a single activity helps develop this trait further over time. This skill will be helpful in school and college when they deal with time-consuming, complex tasks and in their career when multitasking or working in environments full of distractions. Teach collaboration Whether you’re a parent coloring with your kid at home or a teacher practicing this activity in groups with your students in a classroom, it will boost their collaborative skills. It’s all about teamwork and skills like leadership, conflict management, compromising, and taking responsibility for the result. Collaboration on creative projects like coloring also helps your child learn that their ideas matter. They can explore their identities, break away from stereotypes, and get the courage to share their ideas or complete works with the world. Solve problems and learn from mistakes “What if I use this color here?” “How will it balance with red?” “This shape will look better if I make it with a pencil, not a pen.” Creativity and problem-solving go hand-in-hand. When coloring, students ask questions, give reasons, and make choices. They learn to generate ideas and find solutions to make those ideas work. A valuable skill for success in their adult life, agree? As well as learning from mistakes. An integral part of the creative process, they’ll teach students that a mistake is not the end of this world or the sign of their mediocrity. It’s an opportunity to dig deeper into learning and take a step closer to creating a masterpiece.
2. Why coloring pages at home and in a classroom?
As you see, art matters for a student’s education from an early age. Not only does it develop skills they’ll need for further learning, but it also creates a link with other subjects (math, design, science) for better understanding and academic performance. Practice coloring pages with your children to nurture their imagination, creativity, and critical thinking. Sponsored content.
