Kids’ Activities: 10 Benefits of Coloring Pages
Every kid enjoys activities that involve doing something with their hands, whether it’s drawing, coloring, building anything with Lego bricks or immersing themselves in different kinds of crafts. All of those activities represent excellent ways for kids to have fun. However, each and every one of your kid’s activities provides them with a number of benefits. In addition, all of them offer significant lessons that every child needs in order to develop physically, psychologically and cognitively.
One of the best activities for kids which triggers and enhances development is coloring. Coloring is far more than a mere pastime for kids and a recreational activity to keep them occupied for a while. Coloring pages offer a number of benefits that can help children later in life. They are very useful educational tools that provide kids with extremely important benefits that can prepare them for school and help them develop their personalities. Without further ado, let’s take a look at what some of the benefits of coloring pages are.
Improved Motor Skills
The process of coloring can help kids improve their motor skills. This is due to the fact that the motions involved in coloring, such as scribbling with crayons, pencils or markers and learning to grip those tools correctly, help kids strengthen the muscles in their fingers, wrists and hands. By developing fine motor skills, kids can easily learn to write and manipulate various small objects. The same goes for coloring book apps because the child has to manipulate the smartphone with one hand and use the fingers of his or her other hand to color.
Fine motor skills can also help kids become better at sports and other physical activities and help them perform much better academically. They can become better at typing as well, which is certainly one activity they will need later in life.
Better Handwriting
This one goes hand in hand with the improvement of motor skills. By developing hand strength and great attention to detail, not to mention the development of dexterity with writing/coloring tools, kids may find it easier to learn how to write.
Developing motor skills helps kids practice better handwriting, especially because coloring pages have a countless number of lines within which kids are supposed to color. By learning about those boundaries, that is, to color inside the lines, kids later learn to write more easily and it comes more naturally to them.
Improved Focus and Concentration Skills
Coloring pages are a great way for kids to learn to concentrate and improve their focus. This also has a lot to do with the exposure to boundaries, that is, coloring within the lines. When kids immerse themselves in the process of coloring, they concentrate on making the pictures inside the coloring pages come to life, which results in them greatly improving those skills.
Improved focus and concentration skills help kids not only in learning how to write, but also in a number of other activities that they will indulge later in life. Being able to focus better will also help them perform better at school, so it is very important for each and every child to acquire them when they are younger.
Improved Hand-Eye Coordination
When kids improve their focus and concentration skills, they also improve their hand-eye coordination. When they learn how to hold crayons and choose between different colors to find the best one to use, kids develop strong hand-eye coordination.
Even the act of holding a smartphone steady when using coloring games helps kids develop basic coordination skills. Since coloring pages have all kinds of shapes and diagrams, kids are required to color within specified areas, which also helps them improve their hand-eye coordination.
Color Recognition
The sooner kids are exposed to the color wheel, the sooner they will learn to recognize different colors. By being exposed to coloring books on a daily basis, they will quickly and easily learn to tell the difference between various colors.
Coloring pages offer kids the opportunity to learn about different hues and recognize different colors, as well as provide them with an excellent way of exploring different color combinations.
Preparation for School
All of the aforementioned benefits certainly help kids prepare for school and different kinds of classroom activities. However, there are certain things that they can learn with the help of coloring pages that can help them develop their reading and math skills.
The simple act of coloring can help a child learn about lines, shapes, forms, perspective, boundaries and patterns. By learning to recognize all of those things, especially different patterns, kids actually develop pre-reading and pre-math skills, which will undoubtedly help them later in school.
The Skill of Patience
By focusing on coloring different drawings of a coloring page, kids learn the skill of patience. They are relaxed during the entire process of coloring and focused on every line, color and shape and every other detail needed to bring their pictures to life.
By being immersed in the act of coloring, not only do they develop a great eye for detail, but they also learn how to be patient. If they are patient until they finish the picture, it will become exactly what they had in mind all along. Consequently, they will feel a great sense of accomplishment.
Confidence Boost
The ability of completing a task helps children build their self-esteem and confidence, which is why it is important that they color on a regular basis. When kids finish coloring and see the pictures come to life, it gives them a sense of accomplishment. It makes them proud of themselves, which is an excellent confidence boost that every child needs in order to always try and give their best, no matter what they decide to do.
Creativity Stimulation
Coloring pages help kids become more creative and learn about visual differences. The act of coloring can ignite imagination and inspire kids to come up with an infinite number of ideas to express their thoughts. It provides them with an opportunity to express their creative side.
Kids can express their entire personalities through coloring and, what’s more, they can learn how to draw. The pictures within the coloring pages can inspire them and stimulate their creativity. They can wake up their artistic side, which can open a whole new world for them. Simply by looking at the colored drawings that they helped bring to life, kids create a whole other world inside their minds, which they will try and put on paper as well.
Stress Relief
Coloring pages can have a calming and therapeutic effect on kids. This is especially important for kids who have no other outlet for negative emotions. There are kids who find it hard to process their frustrations and negative emotions and coloring can help them vent.
This is due to the fact that they will concentrate on finishing the pictures in the coloring pages, which helps them learn how to relax and stay calm. It is a healthy act of processing their confused and unpleasant feelings through a simple process of coloring.
There are a quite lot of different coloring pages for you to choose from, not to mention coloring page apps for mobile devices that are growing in popularity as we speak. You can very easily print the coloring pages from those apps and provide your kids with a great opportunity to develop different skills in various fields. Therefore, help your kids explore the wonderful world of coloring pages and contribute to a number of lifelong positive benefits.
